Distortion
by J. Peterson
Summary: If the feeling that something was 'off' was all it took, you coulda woken yourself up a hundred times by now. NaoNat. ShizNat.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**  
Mai HiME, all its characters and oth... aw, screw it. If you recognize it, it ain't mine!

**Author's notes:**  
Here we go again, folks! As usual, I have _no_ clue how long this is gonna be or how many eternities it'll take for me to finish it. The only bit I know that _you_ don't is how it's gonna end. Unless I change my mind. *grins and claps* Buckle up, people! Whoo!

For this chapter, I went looking for a song that would suit 2 (3) criteria:

- Must be J-Rock/VK (because Natsuki conceivably _would_ listen to that, both in language (1) and style (2).)  
- Must seem apt to use for an alarm-type-GITYERASSUP-song

… and in my first attempt, I wind up finding a song that not only fits all of the above, but (if the English translation is to be believed) fits the friggin' _story_ as well. Most curious. But yeah - first few lines are from DIAURA's _Lost November_. If you don't know them - go, YouTube, listen! Seriously. I _cannot_ stop listening to their stuff now.

Alright; I'm done rambling. Enjoy.

**Distortion**  
Chapter 1

* * *

_When I first touched you  
up in the hills  
the world changed _

"Urngh," you groan into your pillow as the alarm from your cell phone intrudes on your dreams. It's too damn early to be getting up even if it is by way of music, and with that rather blurry but no less determined thought, you extend an arm from under your covers and blindly reach out towards the nightstand. For some reason, you find nothing but air in the space between your bed and the one Mai usually (and unconsciously) ends up sharing with Mikoto, and you growl in annoyance.

"Dammit, Mai!" You raise your voice to carry over the increasing volume of the guitars. "I told you to stop playing around with that Feng Shui crap! Somebody's gonna trip and break something if you keep doing this!"

"Yes, yes, Natsuki," you then grumble along with her usual reply, and when you grope for your phone with your left arm instead, you manage to locate it and drag it under the covers. The screen is lit brightly enough to make you flinch when you open your eyes and turn off the alarm, and when the page vanishes with a click, you squint at the phone and notice several things at once. One, it's five-thirty in the morning – about an hour earlier than you usually get up. Two, this is _not_ your phone; oh, it's the same make, but a significantly newer, much more high-end model. And three, Mai never replied.

Curiously, you pull back the covers enough for you to peek out. The faint hint of sunrise that's lighting the room just enough to see by isn't coming from above your head as is usually the case, but rather from a large window next to you. It's also landing _only_ on the bed you're currently in, as well as the smaller closet that single rooms are usually provided with, a solitary desk and chair, and a few feet away, a door to the adjoining, small bath.

… why the hell are you in Shizuru's dorm?

You sit up with a puzzled, still-half-asleep frown that's quickly cleared away when the phone buzzes abruptly in your hand and almost scares you out of a few years. Once your heart isn't trying to pound its way out of your ears anymore, you curse fluently and glower at the screen, which is disinterestedly displaying a reminder.

_SCM, 7 AM, SCR_

What? You scowl at it and wonder idly if maybe you're still asleep, because so far, the day has the odd, disjointed feeling of 'this is fucking stupid' that's the closest you ever get to lucid dreaming, and if only for the sake of eliminating the option, you pinch yourself on the arm.

Nope. You definitely felt that, and now you're thoroughly awake. With a sigh, you swing your legs over the edge of the bed and stand, and decide that apparently it's going to be one of _those_ days.

"Shizuru?" you call lowly, figuring that if you're in her room – and you wish you could remember coming here to begin with and get at least some idea of what's going on – then she has to be around somewhere, too. "Hello?" there's no reply, and you knock softly on the door to the bathroom, and finally, cautiously open it when there's no reply. "Shizuru?" But no, the bathroom is empty as well, and you scratch your head and puzzle over that before deciding that maybe she just had some godawful-early appointment that she had to leave for. That would explain why that phone went off so early, though you still don't know who the darn thing belongs to unless Shizuru decided to replace hers and you just haven't noticed it yet.

… actually, that would make sense, you decide as you send the abandoned little gadget a glance. Because in that case, _SCM_ could be _Student Council Meeting_, and _SCR_ could be _Student Council Room_. Of course, that raises the new questions of not only when Shizuru started listening to that style of music and how she could forget the phone in the first place, but also where the hell she is _now_, because walking from the dorms to the main buildings takes 15 minutes at most, not an hour and a half.

"Grmf." You put the little puzzle out of your mind and instead turn it towards finding some sort of non-nighttime outfit to wear. A flick of the switch bathes the room in light, and when you spot no clothes whatsoever lying around (typical Shizuru), you instead turn to the small closet, where she usually keeps anything you forget whenever you visit, and where she probably put the clothes that you presumably just left wherever. Sure enough, there's some of your stuff in there next to the numerous bits that make up the kaichou's uniform– actually so much of it that you wonder why you haven't been missing what looks like your entire out-of-school-wardrobe.

Eh. You shrug it off and take a breath as you set about changing, and while something about that breath rings a little bell in your head, you decide to ignore it. It's no more strange than anything else this morning.

None of the numerous little discrepancies go beyond ignoring until you're fully dressed and in the act of closing the door to the room from the outside. The motion-sensed lights in the hallway flicker to life, and just before you pull the door fully shut and let the automatic lock click into place, the small plaque at eye-level next to it freezes you in position where you stand.

_4.62  
Kuga, N._

Not five minutes later, you're back in the room and sitting on the bed with your head in your hands while you try your level-best to not hyperventilate. You've practically torn the previously neat space apart, but nothing has disproved the name on the wall outside. Those are _your_ _supplies_ in the bathroom, the third-year school books on the shelf all have _your name_ in them, the phone is _your phone_, the laptop on the desk lets you in with a password that's obviously _your choice_, the quality of the air that made something in you react before was the fact that the only scent in here is _your own_, and worst of all, the various pieces of the several, tan-and-black uniforms hanging in the closet are all in _your sizes_.

_What the fuck is going on?!_

_Okay_, you tell yourself and run a shaking hand through your hair. _Let's just take it easy._ After all, there has to be an explanation, right? A life just doesn't turn into a completely different one overnight.

Right?

You're wracking your brain and starting to give yourself a doozy of a headache as you try to think of something – _anything_ – similar to this ever happening to anyone. Outside of their dreams, that is, because at this point, you've pinched your arm so hard and so many times that there's a bruise forming, and yet you're still here in this damn room with all these _damn facts_ practically slapping you in the face;praying to high heaven that the whole thing is just some really,_ really_ elaborate prank. Even if your sense of logic is snorting in derision at the thought alone.

_Wait..._ Briefly, your eyes sharpen as you stare unseeingly at the floor between your feet, and then your gaze unfocuses as it turns inwards in foggy remembrance.

"_It was... in a way, it was really nice," Mai's voice is saying. "Everyone was happy. But at the same time, it just felt so... so wrong."_

The experience Mai had while under... was it the influence of Sister Yukariko's Child? St. Vlas? You frown as you try to remember. Yeah, it probably was. Mai told you about it a while back – about a month after the Carnival was over. She'd mentioned what had seemed to be a different world – no one was fighting, and something about how you'd been in a sports club yourself and running relays. Mai herself had been dating Tate, and while she had been happy in that dream world, she told you about how she just hadn't been able to shake the feeling that it wasn't right, somehow. And that feeling had been one of very few things that had allowed her to escape before she'd been crushed by St. Vlas while under that strange form of hypnosis.

Well, if the feeling that something was 'off' was all it took, you coulda woken yourself up a hundred times by now, you decide with a sigh. So obviously this isn't a similar situation, and you seriously doubt that locking yourself in here is going to give you much more information on what's going on – nor is it going to get you back to where you came from.

The phone buzzes again next to you, and you glare at it as it displays the reminder about that damn meeting again. You're still having massive problems in wrapping your head around the fact that you're a third-year student here - let alone the friggin' kaichou – but unfortunately, it seems that right now, your best bet is to play along with whatever your... counterpart would do, and hope to all hell that that'll lead you to some useful information.

_Shit_. You push yourself to your feet and check that the front door is locked before you start stripping down again, and then plod into the small ensuite to take a shower. Just under half an hour later you've just finished drying and brushing your hair, and you're now studying the right-hand side of the closet with a distinct sense of discomfort. Still, you force it away and will your hands not to shake as you slowly start removing items; starting with the easy ones. One pair of black, polished shoes. One pair of the knee-high, heavy winter-socks, and a single, white hoodie rather than the white shirt and red ribbon that you're used to seeing, because apparently you and your 'usual' version around here does have _that_ much in common.

And then comes the items that honestly make you want you to collapse in hysterics: the simple, black skirt, and the tan blazer. It takes you several tries to actually lift either of them out of the closet, but after much cursing and no small amount of mild freaking out, you manage it, and settle both on the surface of the bed. You spend another several moments just staring at your chosen garments in abject disbelief, only to curse some more as you shake it off and force yourself to start dressing.

Every single item fits as if it had been tailor-made especially for you, and since some part of you was hoping that they wouldn't and would thus at least partially disprove this whole 'different world' theory, that's disappointing in the extreme. You stare at your own reflection in the full-length mirror attached to the inside of one of the closet doors, and even though you're expecting it, there's still a small, not at all pleasant sense of shock when your eyes travel high enough to see your own face looking back at you from above tan and black rather than orange and brown.

Wrong doesn't even begin to describe it and you'd rather flay yourself alive than ever see that sight again, but you're here and apparently stuck for the time being. No other choice but to suck it up and deal – and hopefully determine if you're supposed to act differently before it's too late to find out and people start getting suspicious.

At least your body seems to be working in your favor there, you muse as you study the schedule pinned to the wall and the neatly ordered books, and then begin sorting the ones you'll apparently need into the bag you find next to the desk. During your shower, you started noticing several subtle differences; you're used to a different muscularity than the one you're experiencing now, though as least this one's as discreet as your own. There's a little bit of extra width to your shoulders, and an additional power in your legs that you can feel whenever you move. You're standing straighter, and you can feel yourself walking differently, too – more evenly, somehow. You're used to a slight bounce in your step, but here it almost feels like you're floating, apart from the irritating restlessness that you just cannot shake for whatever reason.

The only explanation you can think up, you decide as you claim a collection of bills from a very prepared-looking little pile on the desk, is that somehow, you and your memories must have taken up temporary – or at least you hope so and quickly squelch any further such ponderings – residence in the body that belongs to the Kuga Natsuki of this reality. Exactly what has caused these discreet yet noticeable changes... well, that's something you're gonna have to figure out on your own. Somehow.

As for where your counterpart's gotten off to, that's something else you're going to have to look into. Along with – of course – exactly how you're going to get yourself back home.

That should be enough to keep anyone busy for a while, right?

xXxXx

"Kaichou-san! Are you listening to me?!"

You_ are_, actually, but it's still extremely difficult to remember to react to that mode of address.

"Yes," you reply, though you only briefly glance up from the laptop in front of you to meet the... _your_ executive officer's glowering face. You can't help it; the thing is a veritable treasure-trove of information – doubly so once you realized that it's actually your own, and not one supplied by the academy itself. Your counterpart seems to be organized to the point of almost being anal, but at least the meticulous notes on student council business that she's stored in here is keeping you from looking like a bumbling idiot for now. "I just don't see how you can set such harsh penalties for being out of uniform." You lean back almost lazily – drawing very heavily on what you remember from watching Shizuru in similar situations - and indicate yourself with one hand. "I'm not in the correct one either."

"Then stop wearing that stupid hoodie and start setting an example for the students to follow," Suzushiro Haruka insists, and slaps her palm down on the desk. "That's your job!"

"Exactly," you growl, because now she's starting to annoy you and you just don't have Shizuru's patience for this sort of stuff. "And I'm gonna set an example that they can actually use once they get out _there_!" You rise, and point sharply towards the windows. "Blindly obeying rules and regulations isn't gonna do a damn thing for them in the real world – it's only gonna get them shoved into a box they're never gonna get out of! They need to _know_ how to buck the system and tell it to _shove it_ if needed, and believe me, there are far worse ways to learn that than by not wearing a pristine uniform every now and then!"

Haruka is glaring stubbornly at you, but from the corner of your eye you can see Kanzaki Reito sipping his tea with his usual, calm demeanor while Kikukawa Yukino merely shakes her head and takes notes. Good things all, the back of your mind tickles you, since that means neither of them are finding the situation unusual in the slightest, and you wish that you could say the same for yourself. It's a small comfort that the rest of the student council consists of the same people, and not for the first time, you're wondering how the hell your counterpart got roped into this.

Did she volunteer for it, maybe; the way Shizuru told you _she_ did? Did she – also like Shizuru – go into it for the sake of someone else, or was it simply something she wanted to do entirely on her own?

Who knows?

"Then how do you propose to teach them that there is such a thing as going too far, Kuga-kaichou?!"

Haruka's voice abruptly pulls you from your mental sidetracking, and although that title – and the volume it's currently being spoken at - still makes you flinch inwardly, you have to admit that she does have a point.

"In that case," you find yourself suggesting as you sit back down and fold your arms loosely. "I suggest that we decide exactly what 'going too far' means." There's a faint glimmer of approval in Haruka's eyes, but she quickly masks it. "And then you can pass out punishments to those who don't stay within those lines. Fair enough?"

"It'll do," she mumbles, and from her seated position a few feet away, Yukino quickly hides a small smile.

"I think we've covered everything for now, kaichou-san," she then speaks up, and glances at the clock on the wall. "There's still time before classes start for the day, so if you'll excuse us?"

"Sure." You shrug and return Yukino's polite smile with a benign look of your own; then feel your face twitch slightly when her gaze shifts and her expression falls so slightly its hardly noticeable.

"Haruka-chan?" Kanzaki is saying as he disposes of his teacup and straightens to offer his arm. "May I escort you?"

_Now what_, you wonder as the three of them leave the room and the door slides shut with a soft snick,_ is that all about?_ You puzzle over it for a few seconds, and then shake your head before refocusing your attention on the screen in front of you. Whatever the issue between the three of them is, it's not your concern and certainly not something you have the time to figure out right now. Even if your behavior during the meeting was apparently no different from what was expected of you, it's one thing to convince three people, and quite another to fool an entire academy full of students. Especially if 'Kuga-kaichou' is as admired in this world as 'Fujino-kaichou' is in your own.

She probably is, you decide with a wry twist of your mouth as you poke around the carefully labeled folders and documents saved within the recesses of the laptop. Based on the neatly sorted and thoroughly completed notes you're finding in here, this version of Kuga Natsuki is probably one of the top students in her year – something you confirm by logging into the academy's internal systems and looking up her profile. She's apparently also a member of both the swimming and diving clubs, and you make a mental note to figure out when you're supposed to attend those, because everything is pointing to the fact that it takes something very serious for her to _not_ show, and that's a habit you'd rather not break.

"Working hard, or hardly working?"

"Ngh!" The sudden sound of another voice breaks your concentration very efficiently, and the surprise brought with it almost makes you fall over backwards. You catch yourself, though, and turn a glower at the intruder.

"Nao?" You feel a frown forming at the sight of the figure leaning against the door frame on one shoulder. Nao's arms are crossed in comfortable arrogance, and there's a smirk pulling at her lips that you presume to be at your expense. She looks several years older, which is only underlined by the fact that's she's dressed in the same uniform that you were wearing only yesterday. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Always so touchy in the mornings, _kaichou-san_," is her reply, and the way in which she draws out your title makes you scowl deeper. "Seriously," Nao then continues as she shuts the door behind herself and ambles closer to peer at the screen over your shoulder. "... did someone piss in your breakfast? Or haven't you had time to indulge yet?"

"What?" You turn your head to find lime-colored eyes twinkling mischievously at you from way, _way_ too close by, and then there's a knowing touch on your chin and no distance at all, and you go taut all over from sheer shock when Nao suddenly just _kisses you full on the mouth_.

"Whoa!" Exactly what happened, you're not sure. There was just a sense of instinct kicking in; your own need to suddenly be anywhere else coupled with some different kind of fighting reflex in this unfamiliar body, followed by sudden, swirling motion, and the next thing you know, you're standing on the other side of the desk while Nao is sitting an odd kind of sideways in the chair and gaping at you. "What the _fuck_ are you doing, Yuuki?!"

"Oh, for Gods' sake," Nao groans and lets a glare replace her shocked expression. "Don't tell me this is another one of your friggin' 'hands off' days!"

… what?

"There _is_ a difference between discretion and just running hot and cold for no reason," Nao complains, while you're surprised that the implications haven't yet made your jaw disconnect from the rest of your skull. "Jesus!" she growls and throws up her hands. "At least warn me in advance if you decide to change into PMS-girl overnight!"

No, seriously... _what?!_ You can't even keep up at this point – you're still entirely too staggered by the notion that... that your counterpart is... with _NAO?!_

"Hey!" A hand snapping it's fingers in front of your face brings you back into a place where time is flowing normally again, and you blink several times before you can make out a set of surprisingly concerned, pale green eyes studying you. "What's up with you today?" Nao asks, though much more quietly this time. "Did you hit your head or something?"

"I haven't ruled that out yet," you mutter, and rub your temples in an effort to make the headache recede.

"O... kay?" Nao sounds as confused as you feel, which is honestly kind of reassuring in an odd way. "Na-" She stops herself, and starts again. "Are you alright? You seem a little... off, to say the least."

Well, _there's_ a surprise, you snark mentally. You feel as if you have no place in your own skin anymore – which is presumably true, given the several massive differences you've found between yourself and your counterpart in just a few, scant hours. Then there are hands on your shoulders when Nao has apparently made her way around the desk, and you're being carefully turned to face her while she studies you intently for several long moments.

"Who the hell _are_ you?" she then asks with a faint undercurrent of anxiety. "You aren't Kuga, that's for damn sure."

"No, I am," you sigh; explaining this mess is well beyond you, but this version of Nao is obviously someone your counterpart trusts, and maybe she can help. "I'm just not..." You fish for words and make several vague gestures towards your surroundings. "..._this_ one."

"I swear, if you start spouting some crap about alternate realities, I am going to _hit _you!"

"Alternate realities," you deadpan dutifully, and feel your head snap to the side when Nao's palm connects solidly with the side of your face.

You look around and rub your now stinging cheek. Student council room, Nao as a high-schooler, you as the kaichou... nope.

"Well," you mutter to yourself. "It was worth a shot."

"Christ." Nao's voice is a choked whisper now. "You're serious, aren't you?"

You nod. "'Fraid so."

"_How?!_"

"I don't _know!_" you growl in reply. "I went to sleep in my own bed last night, and when I woke up this morning I was _here_ instead!"

Whichever expletive Nao's set aside for an occasion like this is drowned out by the ringing of the first bell. "... piece of... damn!" She closes your laptop and stoves it in your bag, which she then holds out to you. "Alright, then we're gonna have to make you fit in as much as possible. The academy is gonna go nuts if people find out their beloved kaichou-sama is missing." Pause. "Sort of. Do you have your- _her_ schedule?""

"No," you admit as you take the bag and shoulder it. "Not on me, though I do have her books for today. English is the first class, right?"

"Advanced English," Nao corrects, and you curse softly. "Room 204, and after that it's Asian History." Her hand grabs your arm as she marches you to the door and into the still-deserted hallway beyond. "If you don't know something just keep your mouth shut, and if you get lost, find and follow Kanzaki – he shares all her classes." The two of you have reached a stairwell, and she stops here. "204 is down one level, turn left, first hallway, second door to the right. Lockers are on the ground floor, hers is number 157 and the combination is 0815."

"Not much for complex codes, is she?"

"Just get going," Nao hisses and shoves you towards the stairs. "You might be late from time to time, but _she_ isn't! Whatever you do, _pay attention_ in class and meet me in the usual spot during lunch, alright?"

You sigh and eye her dryly. "I'd love to," you drawl. "If only you'd tell me where it is."

Once again, Nao's cursing is buried beneath the sound of the bell. "...alright. When your second class is over, just wait outside. I'll find you." Another shove. "Now _go_!"

xXxXx

A few hours later, you find yourself sitting next to Nao on the roof of the academy's eastern wing. The late February weather still holds a definite chill, but 'the usual spot' is tucked against a small storage room up here, and the combination of the wall shielding you from the cool breeze and the noon sun beating down on you actually makes it a very pleasant place to rest. Before coming up here, she brought you by the cafeteria, where she stood in line behind you and muttered lowly.

_Apple juice, 2 cartons. Ham-cheese and chicken-bacon sandwich. One orange, one pear – please tell me you brought the money and for fuck's sake stop scowling at everyone._

Nao crunches her own juice carton - orange - into a ball in one hand, and you manage to reach out and grab it from her before she can send it flying over the edge of the roof.

"Good to know some things don't change," she muses. "She never lets me do that, either."

You roll your eyes, but the comment brings a question to mind. "Do I act like her?"

She outright laughs at that. "Oh, hell no," she emphasizes, and then grins cheekily. "For one, you stopped me earlier." Your blush only makes her grin wider, and she's starting to get on your nerves as much as her counterpart back home does. "For another, you haven't lit up yet."

"Huh?" you grunt around the straw while you sip your own juice.

For an answer, Nao holds up one hand with two fingers extended; then touches the fingers to her own lips and draws in an audible breath. A split-second later, the hand is thumping against your back instead as you choke on your drink, and it takes several wracking coughs and wheezing breaths – which is oddly appropriate – before you can speak again.

"She _smokes?!_" Well, at least that explains the twitchyness you've been feeling – if your counterpart has a tobacco-habit, it's no wonder her body's clawing at you for not getting its usual dose.

"I've been trying to get her to quit for months," is Nao's answer as she leans back against the wall and folds her arms. "It's an open secret – everyone knows she does it, but no one ever manages to catch her at it." Her eyes cut to yours, and the corner of her mouth twitches faintly. "At least not anyone who'll tell on her. Although if you're any indication, maybe I should if it'll work. Certainly tasted a lot better."

You feel your face flush again and level the heaviest glare you can possibly muster at her, but apparently your alternate's done that enough that she's grown immune, because she only smiles sweetly in reply.

_Pissfiddles_, you decide and roll your eyes, and then settle on changing the subject instead, much as you're having trouble wrapping your head around this bit, too. "So you and her are dating?"

The smile fades. "Kind of."

"What?" Confusion seems to be the flavor of the... well, _everything_ in this world. "How do you 'kind of' date someone?"

Nao looks away. "Easy," she replies, and her shoulders slump so faintly you barely even notice. "Fall for someone who doesn't know what she wants."

This definitely ranks in the top five of the most awkward moments in your life, you decide, and pick at the peel on your orange just to give yourself something to do until you can figure out what to _say_.

"I'm sorry," is what eventually comes out – inane as it sounds to even your own ears.

"Not your fault," she shrugs off your concern much like you expected, and falls silent for a few seconds before speaking up again with a noticeably more neutral tone to her voice. "Any other questions? If you're gonna hang around until my- until the Natsuki I know comes back, I guess I should at least help you fit her part."

"Mm, just one." You decide to ignore the dancing around the subject – it's none of your business anyway, and you've been extremely puzzled at the clear absence of a certain name and presence around here. "Where the hell is Fujino Shizuru?"

You watch Nao's face scrunch in complete incomprehension, and you can feel the color drain from your face before she even opens her mouth.

"Where's _who_?"

xXxXx


	2. Chapter 2

For disclaimers (sort of), please see part one.

**Author's novella:**  
Let me start by (hopefully) setting aside some concerns that several of you mentioned after the first chapter – I didn't respond much to those in my replies chiefly so I could cover it here and thus include the reviewers who don't or can't sign in, in one, fell swoop: To make it clear, this fic does _not_ center around ShizNat winning out over NaoNat or vice versa. Remember: there are _two_ _distinct versions_ of Natsuki in this story, even if we're only hearing from the canon one.

There's a lot of questions left unanswered at this point, and to be honest, there probably will be for a while yet – because... *grins and shrugs* Well, because I'm cruel like that. I'm gonna keep you guys in the dark as long as Natsuki is, only to toss in the odd (and at times 'magnifier needed to find it'-type) clue just for the frustration-value. However, you're welcome to speculate, and if you get something right, I _will_ confirm it via PM if at all possible.

A few of you also spoke of being somewhat apprehensive about taking on this fic; some due to the concerns outlined above and some due to disliking a pairing, but said outright that you were reading anyway simply because _I'm the one writing_. That... is probably the biggest compliment I've ever received. Thank you.

Unrelated, I hope I got Natsuki's year of birth right – I figure that if she was 17 at the end of the series, that means she'd turn 18 on August 15, 2005. Thus, by my math she should have been born in 1987. Oh, and the Google response at the end of this chapter? Don't read anything into it. I just have a wonky sense of humor, is all.

Enjoy.

**Distortion**  
Chapter 2

* * *

"Good morning, kaichou-san!"

"Good morning," you return as amiably as possible – which is actually surprisingly so considering that you most of all want to snap _everyone's head off_ at this point. God, no wonder people say that quitting is the hardest thing you'll ever do in your life. Your hands are shaking, you're constantly one wrong word – or glance, or _falling leaf_ - away from exploding, and what _really_ pisses you off is that this whole mess isn't even your fault.

"Hmm-hm-hmm-dieyoumiserable-hmm," you half-hum, half-growl well under your breath as you reach your locker. At least you're feeling a little less... sandblasted today than you did last night. That was absolutely the most awful you've ever felt in your life, and only the gleeful pleasure you found in digging out and _ripping to shreds_ the cigarette packs and contents that your counterpart had hidden in various spots around her dorm helped any. Not much, admittedly, but at least it kept you from clawing anything else to pieces. Such as yourself.

Although if this damn locker doesn't open soon, that might change. Dammit, you _know_ what the combination is, so why isn't it working?

Zero... eight... one... five. You twist and pull again, and _still_ nothing. Only the crowd of students milling around and the knowledge that you have to act like the absolutely heartless, good for nothing piece of... grr! Definitely the only thing keeping you from openly losing your temper.

Alright, you decide and force yourself to exhale slowly through your nose, so maybe she changed the combination and Nao just doesn't know. But to what? Well, if the old code was her birthday, then maybe...

One... nine... eight... seven. Turn, pull – nope. Maybe she missed a year, too? One... nine...eight...six. Turn, pull – nada. Oh, for the love of... what else could it be?!

You turn and lean back against the locker, and pretend to be studying the one, necessary book you could bring from the dorm this morning while you think. Everything stored on the laptop is neatly labeled – you discovered that much yesterday, and coupled with the carefully folded clothes, the books sorted by both subject and title and a thousand other tiny things, you're definitely convinced that she's organized. Logical. Methodical. Not unlike you even if you've mostly turned those points in yourself towards other pursuits, and not the type of person who'd pick even something so tiny as a locker code at random. So most likely, she'd choose something that held some sort of meaning to her – and it has to be something that can be narrowed down to four numbers. Her previous choice of your shared date of birth was a little obvious, maybe, but at the same time it makes sense. Who wouldn't find meaning in the day when their life began?

Furthermore, when she _did_ change it, she probably also changed it to something related, but it wasn't her own birth _year_, unless you're way off-base somewhere.

A sudden idea almost tickles at the back of your mind – one whose seeds you first came across while browsing academy profiles yesterday afternoon in an ultimately fruitless search for Shizuru as either a current or previous student - and you carefully close the book in your hands before turning and slowly – curiously – inputting another four numbers.

_Click_.

Huh.

0613 – or rather, June 13th. Nao's birthday.

"Hey, Natsuki!"

You somehow manage to _not_ bang your head against the locker door when you jump in surprise. What is it with the people of this world and their apparent desire to make you go gray way too early?

"... morning, Mai." At least, you consider, the cheerful greeting and mode of address is enough to let you know that she and your counterpart are friends, too.

Mai snickers at the way you literally clutch at your chest from sheer shock, and you watch somewhat jealously as she opens her own locker a few spaces down without any incident whatsoever. "Wow, you're jumpy today," she comments. "What's going on?"

Well, you either want to kill people for breathing wrong, or claw your own skin off until the detox process is over and done with. Whichever works better and results in less trouble, really.

"I didn't sleep too well," is what you actually tell her, though, and find a package of gum in your bag to take a piece from, since that seems to take some of the edge off. It's true, too – not the _entire_ truth, but you've learned long ago that being friends with someone doesn't mean that they know _everything_ there is to know, and you don't really want to go into the 'yeah, I'm from a different reality', thing; nor do you wish to remember the shapeless shadows that kept invading your dreams and waking you up for no apparent reason.

The few books needed for your first class are shifted into the crook of your arm, and you set the bag into their place before shutting the locker with a click. You're busily chewing when you turn, only to find Mai leaning against the wall on one shoulder and watching you curiously.

"...what?" you ask somewhat uncomfortably.

Mai opens her mouth, then glances around and apparently changes her mind, and the next thing you know you're being practically frog-marched down the hall and into an empty classroom – while trying your best to look like the whole thing was your idea. _Snick_, goes the door behind you, and after Mai's spent a few moments listening to the silence and apparently deciding that no one is eavesdropping, she turns to you and sets her hands on her hips.

"You quit, didn't you?" she determines triumphantly, and claps when she undoubtedly sees your expression shift to one of _get the hell out of my head_. "Awesome!" You're pulled into a tight, bouncing hug so fierce that it forces your breath from your lungs and almost makes you spit your gum across the room. "I knew you could do it!"

Is it possible to 'quit' something _you_ never actually started? Or would this be more of a matter of the old adage about shit rolling down-hill and you having to deal with a mess you didn't make?

"It sucks," you tell her emphatically, and that thankfully manages to stop her hopping excitedly in place and jolting you rather unpleasantly at the same time. "I don't think I've ever been in a worse mood."

"That's saying something," she teases gently, and only grins at the glare you send her in response. "I told you it'd be hard, but at least it'll only take your body three days to detox completely."

Three days?! "You mean I'll be feeling like this for another 48 hours?!" you almost shout at her, because the first 24 have certainly not been anything even remotely resembling a walk in the park.

"Now, now," Mai waves you off. "At least you picked a good time, hm? We only have a half-day today, tomorrow's Sunday, and when school starts up again next week, you should be over the worst of it." She frowns pensively. "Although you should probably find something to do instead of..." A glance at the closed door. "...that. You know – replace a bad habit with a better one? Just so you don't fall in again."

You glower at her while you use your tongue to roll the gum into a little ball inside your mouth, and then chomp it viciously between your molars. Frankly, you haven't felt the tiniest urge to light a cigarette at all – you've just been furious at the physical reactions you've had to endure from _not_ doing so. But if your counterpart's been smoking for a long time and presumably enjoyed it, then _she_ would probably be likely to fall off the wagon, and Mai's suggestion would make sense to her.

"Any ideas?" you therefore ask.

"Hm." Mai makes an appropriately thoughtful noise as she opens the door and the two of you start off down the hall, and you repeat the number of room you need to go to in your head a few times, because you can't remember if it's a class you share with her. "Well, probably not gum," she offers with a slightly apologetic tone to her voice. "You know the administration frowns on chewing it in school."

Actually, you don't, but you can very easily picture Suzushiro gleefully enforcing that notion all the same – probably by making the offender wear it on their forehead for the remainder of the day.

"Something with caffeine might be good, though," Mai goes on. "You'll get a bit of a jump from that too, it's a lot less toxic than coffin nails and there's plenty of sodas and coffees sold right here on campus."

Well, you have no real problem with either of those ideas. However, you do find yourself suggesting something else. "How about tea?"

That actually makes Mai just _stop_ halfway through a step and stare at you. "Natsuki," she tells you lowly. "I've known you since our first day of junior high, and you've _never_ drank any tea that I can recall."

She's right, of course – you don't particularly like it either, but it seems like a lifetime since you've last seen a cup or smelled the few varieties you can name by scent alone, and it's honestly driving you a little crazy. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

"Well..." You shrug and keep walking "First time for everything. Right?"

xXxXx

"You should probably try to watch yourself more in class," Nao tells you some time later – after school has ended for the day and you're walking around the campus aimlessly. She tracked you down in the hall and managed to sneak you out of a side door before your chemistry teacher – Hawari-sensei? - could engage you in conversation as he so obviously wanted to. "I overheard a few of the teachers wondering about your sudden restlessness."

"You try sitting still when it feels like you wanna crawl out of your own skin," you mutter in response, and then replace your words with an appropriately pleasant smile when a few middle-schoolers pass by and greet you. "It should be easier next week," you continue around a sigh once they're out of earshot again. "Right now the shakes are driving me nuts."

Nao merely grunts softly in response, and wondering about her behavior easily wins out over focusing on the very strong urge to just start punching things.

"Are you usually this quiet?" you ask bluntly, because _her_ counterpart would be about as likely to pass up a chance to make fun of you as she would be to sprout wings and fly to the moon, and you entertain yourself with that mental image while you wait for Nao to stop gaping at you. For the second time in as many days.

"Actually, between her and me, I probably supply about ninety percent of the talking," she finally admits wryly. "You're a lot better with people than she is."

That comment makes you perform both a mental _and_ a physical double-take, because you've been dubbed antisocial for as long as you can remember, and the knowledge that she's _worse_ is actually kind of frightening. "Damn," is all you can think of to say in response, and so you leave it at that.

"Not the case back where you come from, huh?" Nao deducts.

"Not exactly." You shake our head. "I never really spent time with anyone. I ended up kinda being tossed into a group of people headfirst during the Carnival and things just... grew from there, but until my last year of junior high, I had no friends at all." A pause. "I wanted it that way."

"Sounds familiar," Nao muses idly. "That's around when I met her, too. She just started seeking me out, and I never could figure out what the hell she wanted until she kissed me last spring."

"Where'd you meet?"

"The director's garden." Nao's reply makes you blink several times. "I was two seconds away from destroying a flowerbed when she came up behind me and stopped me."

"... please don't tell me she said something about how beautiful flowers are meant to be loved."

"What?" That earns you an odd look, to say the least. "No, actually she told me that I was free to do what I wanted, but so was she, and if I was gonna commit a blatant act of vandalism, then she was going to make sure I got punished for it. Who the hell would say what _you_ just said?"

Who indeed. "So what did you do?"

Nao grins. "I ripped the thing apart, and then spent two weeks' worth of detention putting it back together."

You can't help but chuckle at that. "Harsh," you comment.

"Nah, not really," Nao admits. "She helped. That's how I started getting to know her – one heck of an awakening it was, too."

"Mm?" You step over a loose branch lying on the pathway. "How do you mean?"

"I acted so weird around her," is the reply. "I'd blush at the drop of a friggin' hat, and it felt like I stuttered every time she even opened her mouth at first." She shakes her head and snickers wanly. "Probably a good thing she doesn't say much. I don't think I'd have survived if she was a chatterbox."

She's smiling as she speaks – that's easy to see – but it's a strange, sad kind of smile, and you find yourself sympathizing with her; odd as that is to realize, given how you're used to reacting around the Nao you know.

"You're in love with her," you deduce softly.

Nao grunts.

"Hey." You manage to pat her only somewhat awkwardly on the shoulder. "C'mon, at least she wants you too, right?"

"No." Nao shakes her head. "Or... well, yeah, she _wants_ me – she seems to enjoy the kissing thing, anyway. But she doesn't feel... _that_ way. Y'know?"

"You can't know that for sure."

That earns you a disturbingly resigned look from the lime-colored eyes. "Have you led a very sheltered life, by any chance?" she asks, and if it wasn't for the seriousness of the question, you'd probably start laughing hysterically.

"Not hardly," you scoff instead. "I survived the Carnival, didn't I?"

Surprisingly, you answer makes _her_ laugh. "Oh, come on!" she exclaims. "God, if 'surviving' a party with silly masks and costumes is what you call excitement, you're practically a newborn!"

It takes a few seconds of total confusion for you to work that one out, and then you feel something inside you just freeze when you realize that _she has no idea what you're talking about_.

What the hell? Seriously, _what the hell?!_ What does that even mean? That there's been no Carnival here? That it's in the distant future, just around the corner or that it just doesn't exist _at all?!_

"You okay?" Nao asks curiously. "You've got a really weird look on your face."

Seeing as how this is the first time since arriving here that you actually find yourself _wanting_ a cigarette, that doesn't surprise you.

"C'mon." You grab Nao's arm in return for a startled squawk, and pick up the pace significantly. "You know this place better than me. Where can I buy tea?"

"Tea?!"

"Tea," you confirm. "Bagged, loose, I don't care. Preferably green, though."

"Have you totally lost your marbles?!" Nao demands as she tries to keep up. "What the hell _is_ it with you all of a sudden?!"

"The Carnival wasn't a party," you growl at her. "Now, _come on_!"

"What?" Nao stares incomprehendingly at you, and manages to guide you down a side path that seems to lead to the borders of the academy campus. "Then what the hell was it?"

God, where to begin? "Ever watched a magical girl animé?"

"... WHAT?!"

xXxXx

That, you decide several hours later as you close the door to your dorm behind Nao and lean against it with a soft sigh, was one of the most emotionally exhausting afternoons and evenings you've ever experienced. Not necessarily in a bad way – it wasn't like either of you were screaming or crying at any point – but you've basically spent the far better part of the day explaining to someone else what had just sort of become... _life_ to you. Rehashing the events of the Carnival, the ones leading up to it, the prophecies and everything connected to the HiME in general took more effort than you could've ever imagined.

In a way, it was oddly amusing, though. You've lived the insanity of _being_ a HiME and experiencing the climax of the 300-year cycle, but it's never really hit you just how strange it must all sound until you told someone who had _no idea_, and got to watch their brains practically dribble out of their ears in response.

Ah, well. At least Nao didn't pass out, although there was a few times where you thought she was going to. You flop to a seat on the now neatly made bed and claim one of your latest acquisitions – a blue mug filled with gently steaming, green tea - and take a sip. Plus, while you were wracking your brain for everything you could remember, explaining, describing and clarifying whenever Nao's eyes started to glaze over in either confusion or outright disbelief, the two of you managed to undo the damage you yourself did yesterday, and got the entire dorm back the neat, orderly state it was in when you first arrived.

"_Come on in," you'd told her, and closed the door behind her before starting to put away various kind of tea you'd bought. Nao, in the meantime, was looking at the all-encompassing mess with an astounded look on her face that had made you chuckle. "Not how it usually looks, huh?"_

"_I wouldn't know," she'd said simply, and shrugged her shoulders. "I've never been here before."_

"_Seriously?"_

"_I didn't even know her room number until a few minutes ago when **you** brought me here," Nao had grumbled in reply, and seemed kind of embarrassed. "So yes. Seriously."_

Yeah, you remember now that you think about it. She had definitely started following your lead once the two of you left the small, nearby grocery store and you suggested your - _her_ - dorm as a place to better talk privately in. Nao even told you later on that the chief way in which you were acting out of character for your counterpart was in how you actually didn't mind spending time around her out in public.

The Natsuki of this reality, Nao told you in no uncertain terms, has _never_ walked with her anywhere. Ever. And _that's_ why she's convinced that where your alternate is concerned, whatever relationship the two of them have is purely physical.

But you can't help but remember the locker combination. And wonder. You, after all, know better than practically anyone that there is really no such thing as black and white – everything is just a thousand shades of gray. Would your sudden desire to kick what in a way is your own ass qualify as slate, you muse, or is it more of a gainsboro?

You shove the thought aside, and instead lift the laptop from the bag you settled on the floor by the bed all those hours earlier. Tired as you are, there is one more thing you want to try before you let yourself go to bed, and it doesn't take many keystrokes until you're staring at the front page of Google Japan. It takes even fewer before you've entered in a name that you could type out with your eyes closed.

It just _can't_ be. A world without Shizuru in it... that's just wrong.

_Did you mean 'Shindou Naomi'?_ is all the search engine responds with, however, and you pinch the bridge of your nose and close your eyes as you let out a slow, shaky breath.

Dammit.

It leaves you feeling surprisingly saddened, and fruitlessly puzzling over that reaction keeps you awake for another long while, before you finally fall into an exhausted sleep.

xXxXx

_One of Thirteen, One of Ice  
We all tire of the fight  
Find us where you know we are  
Give your aid to heal the scar  
Heartache's cycle, fill the lack  
Mend what's broken, fix the crack_

xXxXx


	3. Chapter 3

For disclaimers (sort of), please see chapter one.

**Author's notes:**  
Holy pooters - three updates in one week?! _What_ am I on?!

Also, I made a slight boo-boo in chapter 2 that **angelronin** was kind enough to point out – for those of you who read it before I fixed it; Nao's birthday is _June_ 13, not March. In addition to that, I _had_ planned for this chapter to include more than it does, but it ran away from me and I had to find a stop point that would work and at the same time allow me to get to bed at a decent hour while still posting today. This was it.

Yes, I'm evil. No, she isn't going home - that would be _way_ too easy.

(Lord, I hope I can deliver on all the confusion I'm causing you guys. *pats self on back* Get your head in the game! Strength, beauty and GUTS!)

*coughs* Anyway; enjoy.

**Distortion**  
Chapter 3

* * *

"Find us where you know we are," you mutter to yourself and crumple up the paper in your hands before throwing it over your shoulder with a growl. "Stupid dreams." It's bad enough that you spent what felt like the entire night just hearing the same six lines over and over again in your dreams in a variety of voices – couldn't they at least make _sense_? No, of course not, you decide with a grimace. Instead, they have to repeat themselves to the point of making you horribly curious, yet remain confusing enough that you're having a bear of a time making heads or tails of anything.

Bah, whatever. It's almost noon and you've already wasted the entire day so far on it. Or rather, you've spent the hours you've been awake switching from the homework there was to complete to the piece of paper where you'd written the dream down. The homework is now done – your counterpart's notes helped in making surprisingly short work of that - but the dream remains a mystery. Irritatingly so, since you have the distinct feeling that it's important.

"We," you mutter sourly, and lean back to lift your socked feet onto the desk. "We who?"

The empty room, of course, doesn't reply, and you swallow a sigh before doing the same to a sip of of the tea sitting beside you. It doesn't quite smell like what Shizuru brews – probably because she's mastered that art as well as she masters anything else while you're admittedly a rank amateur – but it still manages to bring her to mind so strongly that it sends a pang of sadness through you.

Damn, you miss her. She's been the central figure in your life for years and years – the one person you've truly allowed yourself to count on – and you continue to have more than a hard time wrapping your head around the fact that in this universe, Fujino Shizuru apparently just flat-out _does not exist_. What kind of world is it where there's a version of you, but not one of her? And does that mean that somewhere out there, there's a world where she exists but _you_ don't? Maybe one where she feels as keenly as you do now that something important is missing, only she doesn't know what – or rather _who_ – it is?

Why couldn't you have ended up there instead? And what's going on back where you belong? Does anyone know you're gone, or has this world's version of you taken your place there?

This time, you allow the sigh to escape before forcing the glum thoughts away. They won't do any good towards you figuring out how to get yourself home, after all, and the more time you spend on pointless wonderings, the longer it'll take before you do manage to draw any conclusions. Instead, you therefore turn your attention to the lowly humming laptop, and start clicking your way through the folders until you get to one that's simply labeled _Personal_. Apparently your counterpart has a bit of a neurotic streak, because this folder is hidden away several layers down in her first-year notes. If you hadn't spent the other part of your non-homework time this morning just going through the computer out of boredom, chances are you wouldn't have found it at all.

But there it is, and you're curious on top of wanting something to take your mind off your inability to understand the dreams. So what's in here that she's wanting so much to keep away from prying eyes?

"Hm." You study the contents and quirk an eyebrow. Photos, apparently - all of them of Nao – and sorted as neatly as everything else.

The first one is of Nao as you remember her; shorter and also thinner and gawkier than the version you've grown used to seeing over the past few days. She definitely looks like she was in middle school when this picture was taken, though she's dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, sitting with her back against the trunk of a tree and with several smudges of dirt on her face and arms. She isn't looking at the camera, but instead scowling into the distance with a bottle of water in her lap, and doesn't seem at all aware that the photo was taken.

This was probably back when she was serving detention for ruining the flowerbed, you realize, and continue clicking through the photos. It's odd, but as the snapshots pass, you can literally _see_ her change; going from the surly, bitter and distrustful girl you remember, and gradually starting to gain a softer set to her features and a more open look in her eyes as she grows older bit by bit. The glares and scowls are replaced with smiles and wryly amused grins, and in a few of the later photos, she even knows she's being photographed.

The last picture of the bunch is almost enough to make you blush - not that there's anything even slightly perverted about it. It features Nao in her high school uniform this time, sitting on a lawn somewhere – half on one hip with her knees bent and her feet pointed off to the side – leaning on one arm with the other tucked around her waist. She's cast halfway in soft shadows by what's either the setting or rising sun, and looking directly into the lens with a gentle smile on her face and a thinly veiled look of complete and utter devotion in her eyes that clearly marks the identity of the photographer – as if you had any doubts.

What caused such a difference, you wonder, and what kind of an _idiot_ is your alternate that she can't see what's right in front of her face?

_Natsuki, I'm always thinking of you._

Hm. The same kind of idiot that you are yourself, apparently.

"Hey." The snick of the door opening is the only warning you get before Nao enters the room, and you quickly click out of the folder of photos. That's a discussion you'd prefer to leave to someone who can actually explain it, and as much as Nao deserves to know, she'd probably refuse to believe anyone but your counterpart anyway.

"Hey," you return as Nao closes the door, and then grin at her. "Feeling better?"

There's a glare in it for you in reply to that, as well as a faint blush, which makes you snicker. You can't help it – watching Nao's jaw drop time and again last night was really pretty funny, even if you also felt kind of bad for making her head explode. Figuratively only, thankfully.

"And here I was gonna apologize for freaking on you yesterday," your guest remarks snarkily as she flops onto the bed and scowls. "So much for that."

"Alright, alright." You wave one hand at her and manage to school your face into a more serious expression. "Peace. I'm sorry."

"Hmf." Nao glowers for a few moments longer, but then takes a breath and seems to let it go – again, a curious counterpoint to the version of her that you know, because _she_ certainly would've held a grudge. "Fine," she mutters. "Why are you so amused at the whole thing, anyway?"

"Well..." You refocus your attention on the monitor and start skimming through a short paper you finished earlier. "I was pretty surprised that you didn't know anything about the Carnival, or the HiME for that matter." True. "I mean, you didn't bat an eye at me coming from a different reality, y'know?"

Nao snorts. "That had nothing to do with magic or monsters, thanks," she comments. "One look in your eyes made it pretty clear that you weren't her."

Curious now, you look up. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Nao fishes a cellphone from the pocket of her own jeans and taps at it for a little while before holding it out to you. "Here. See for yourself."

You take it from her and turn it so you can see the screen properly, and find yourself looking at another photo. It's much smaller than the ones you were looking at previously – mainly due to the size difference in the respective monitors - but thankfully this is a fairly close-up image of this world's Kuga Natsuki. It shows her from the waist up in her kaichou-uniform – the summer version, going by the vest – her arms are folded across her chest, and she's leaning back away from the camera as if she's not too happy with the picture being taken in the first place.

And it's weird beyond words to look into the carefully blanked face that looks exactly like your own – to meet the clear, green eyes that you see in the mirror every day, and see an entirely different person looking back at you. Nao definitely wasn't joking when she said that you were better with people than she is, because _these_ green eyes have several, sturdy walls behind them that stand at a distinct counterpoint to the slight, almost practiced smile on her lips. They're closed off and shuttered in a way that yours haven't been since before you entered high school.

_Of course_, you realize, and can almost hear the click as several previously loose pieces of the puzzle suddenly connect. Here, Nao is who she is because someone reached out to her – forced themselves into her life and taught her that the world isn't all that bad. For similar reasons, this Natsuki is who _she_ is, because in her case, that didn't happen.

_Shizuru_ didn't happen. Mai did, from what you gather, but Mai... Mai isn't Shizuru. In any reality.

Oh, it's probably not all quite _that_ simple – there's still several things about your alternate that you don't understand - but this is definitely as good a place as any to start.

"You've got that weird look on your face again," Nao comments.

"Ah." You blink and glance up from the phone in your hands. "Sorry. Just having a personal epiphany."

That earns you a curious look. "Yeah? Get those a lot?"

"Not nearly often enough," you admit.

"Hm." Nao thankfully seems content to leave it at that, and instead glances down before picking up the crumpled piece of paper you discarded earlier. "What's this?"

Urgh, not that again. "Just a dream I've been having," you grumble sourly, and deposit the phone on top of the bed. "I think I've had it both nights, though it didn't include any actual words until last night. I've been trying to figure it out all morning."

"One of thirteen, one of ice," Nao quotes as she unfurls the wad of paper and starts reading it. "Thirteen?" She glances up at you. "Ice is you – I figured that much yesterday, but I thought you said there were usually twelve of these HiME?"

"Far as I know, yeah," you nod and set the laptop onto the desk. "But when it happened back home, a company called Searrs tried to hack into the HiME's power. They created a thirteenth one."

Nao grunts thoughtfully. "So whoever this 'we' is, it's definitely someone who knows you're a little out of place here."

"To put it mildly," you mumble. "But who the hell knows that _here?_"

"Well, me," Nao points out dryly. "But I sure don't have the power needed to pull you from one world to the next. I don't think _any_ human has that kind of power."

Something about that makes you straighten. "Say that again."

Nao blinks. "Well, me?"

"No – the last part."

"I... don't think any human has that kind of power?"

_Human_.

_We_.

_Find us_.

"You've got that expression going again," you hear Nao say. "Another epiphany?"

"Yup."

"...should I open the door before you run into it face-first?"

"Please." You refocus your gaze and eye her. "Up for a trip to the library?"

Nao pulls a face. "Is talking in layers something you make a habit of?"

No, it isn't. But her reply brings to mind someone else who certainly _does_ have that habit, and you grin in response.

Finally – progress.

Maybe even towards home.

xXxXx

"You owe me a new jacket," Nao complains about half an hour later, and you roll your eyes as she displays the tear along one arm.

"I didn't decide to have the gates to the actual school buildings sealed off during the weekends," you argue. "Or to have spikes put on the fence. We had to get in somehow."

"You do realize that the kaichou is given _keys_ to those gates?" Nao growls. "You know, for emergencies?"

That actually makes a lot of sense, you realize, and clap a hand to your forehead. "...fuck."

Nao groans. "How have you _lived_ to this age?!"

"Oh, shut up," you mutter, and start jogging across the empty courtyard when you see the large, circular building looming in the distance. "Fine, if your version of me can afford it, I'll get you a new jacket tomorrow."

Nao gives you another odd look at that, but merely shakes her head and picks up her own pace to match yours.

"Well," you muse as you reach the door to the library. "I suppose the kaichou is given keys to the individual buildings too, hm?"

Nao rolls her eyes and leans against the wall. "Fat lot of good those do when they're probably still in the dorms."

You don't dignify that with a response, although you do send your companion a searching glance when you remember something about Nao back in your own world.

This version notices your look, and returns it. "What?"

"Where I come from," you tell her with the quirk of an eyebrow. "Your counterpart was pretty handy with a lockpick."

"You mean you're not gonna continue your action-hero theme and kick the door in?" Nao smiles charmingly. "Aw, come on! Where's your macha?"

"I will _slap_ you if you don't knock it off," you warn her. "Can you do it, or not?"

"Killjoy," Nao mumbles, but obligingly fishes a set of lockpicks from her inside pocket and drops to one knee in front of the door. "Keep watch, willya? Ten to one says Suzushiro has her goons patrolling, and I'd rather not end up in detention again this term."

"Mm." You obligingly scan the surrounding area while you listen to the faint clicks that signal your companion working. "What'd you get it for previously?"

"Breaking curfew." Nao's response is partially muffled by a louder, more significant sounding _click_, and you turn to see her pocketing the picks with a satisfied smile before she pushes the door open and bows. "After you."

The library is, of course, dark and completely abandoned, and the sound of the door clicking shut behind you echoes in the huge, vaulted chamber. It looks exactly as you remember it from the times you hunted Nagi down in here, except the massive clock on the floor is set only halfway to the point you last remember seeing it at.

"So, here we are," Nao comments in a bored tone. "Although I still don't see why."

"We need to 'find them where they are'", you quote. "Or where_ I _know they are." Your eyes settle on the large, double doors at the opposite end of the room, and you point towards them. "And if I'm right, that's in there."

"What?" To say that Nao sounds disbelieving would be putting it mildly. "Those doors have been locked in all the time I've been here, and don't even think of asking me to try picking them," she continues as the two of you walk across the floor. "There is no lock to pick!"

"Checked, have you?" you return bemusedly.

Nao shrugs. "I was curious."

Curious, maybe, but in any case she's right, you decide with a sigh as you reach the doors. There's no keyholes to work with here – hell, there isn't even door handles – and you study them in silence while Nao settles herself on the floor with an annoyed grunt.

How, you wonder as you reach out to touch the wooden surface and look up, are you supposed to get in?

_HiME of Ice... enter..._

"Yow!" You jerk your hand back, and the sudden, hissing voices disappear as suddenly as they showed up. "What the hell was that?!"

"What was what?" is Nao's lazy reply from behind you, and you spin on your heel.

"You didn't hear that?" you demand.

Nao hold up her hands and shrugs. "All I hear is dust settling." She sneezes faintly. "The director really should have this place cleaned more often."

Weird. You furrow your brow and turn back to the door, aware of the fact that you can't hear anything unusual anymore, either. You haven't moved, so why?

Wait... you did move, you remember. You were _touching _the door before, and hesitantly, you reach out your hand again.

_Welcome, Natsuki-hime..._ The voices resume in an instant when your fingertips reach the carved wood. _Enter... open the Gates of Valhalla... speak the name of the One-Eye, and be granted entrance to Asgard..._

You have to pull your hand away again, because even that tiny bit of contact of... whatever kind this is... is taxing enough to leave you feeling short of breath. "Valhalla?" you muse to yourself. "Asgard..."

"Are you dropping marbles all over the floor again?" Nao wonders. "Funny... I don't hear any clattering." Your glare only makes her grin. "Seriously, what's with all the Norse mythology you're suddenly spouting?"

"Norse?" You send her a glance from the corner of your eye, because it seems that she might actually know something about this, unlike yourself. "Who's the one-eye, then?"

"Odin?" Nothing happens at Nao's curious response, and you frown at the doors before deciding to try it yourself.

"Odin," you say – loud and clear with your own voice reverberating in the still air – and as if on cue, a loud rumbling echoes in the entire room as the massive doors slowly, haltingly start sliding open in front of your face.

"Whoa." Nao's voice and the sound of her getting to her feet is partially drowned out by the grinding of the doors, and by the sound of several bits of rock clattering to the floor in front of you. "That's one hell of a parlor trick."

You grunt in reply. It's hardly a parlor trick, but it's not like you know what else to call it, either.

"What _is_ this?" Nao wonders.

That, at least, you can reply to – if not exactly make sense of. "The Gates of Valhalla."

"... and we're going in there?"

"I am," you tell her as you turn to face her. "You don't have to. You can wait here if you want."

"Oh, no!" A hand grabs your arm as you take the first step, and Nao easily matches your pace. "No way am I gonna be sitting on my ass out here. If you croak, I seriously doubt that my Natsuki is ever coming back, so deal."

"It's so nice to feel appreciated."

"Shut up."

xXxXx

It takes what feels like at least a good twenty minutes of walking down the sloping, narrow pathway before it widens enough that the two of you can walk side by side rather than single file, and it's a good thing that the strange, bluish glow from the rock around you is strong enough to light the way. After all, it's not like either of you thought to bring a flashlight.

You take a deep breath. Now that you're no longer brushing against the rock with each move you make, the snippets of whispers that invaded your head with every touch have finally stopped, and you feel the springy tension that's settled between your shoulderblades ease somewhat. You haven't said a single word on your own during the trek, and whenever Nao's spoken, your replies have grown more and more short and snappish, until she at last decided to leave you in peace completely.

"Sorry," you mumble in her general direction and rub your temples. "This place is getting to me."

"Proof that you're human," Nao returns with shrug. "I think even Gandhi would freak out here."

"Mm." You nod, even though the fact that you're _not_ entirely human is probably part of the problem here. Normal humans don't battle monsters. Normal humans don't come back from the dead. Normal humans don't hear voices from simple contact with inanimate objects, and normal humans _certainly_ don't feel as if the very stone around them is alive.

"Can you feel anything?" you ask Nao curiously.

"Sure," she replies gamely, and you watch her breath mist in front of her face. "It's colder than a well-diggers ass in here. How could I not feel that?"

That wasn't exactly what you meant, and it probably shows on your face, because the pale, green eyes give you another curious look. "I..." You start, then stop and try to figure out how to explain yourself. "There's some kind of energy here," you continue, fumbling for the words. "I heard voices when I touched the door, and I hear them in here if I touch the rock."

Experimentally, Nao settles her palm against the stone wall, and then shakes her head. "Nothing here."

You too reach out then, and place the entirety of your hand against the cool, glowing rock, and in an instant, you're flooded with a rush of foreign energy that sends you to your knees.

"_The inexplicable cannot be explained to those who do not know, Natsuki-hime!_" a voice hisses in your ears, and you can feel yourself shaking from the sheer power flowing through your veins until hands grab your arms and pull you physically away from the wall.

"Damn," you pant, and appreciate Nao's arms holding you up from behind, because your legs sure don't feel like they're able to support you.

"Well," comes her voice by your ear, and you wonder why it's trembling slightly. "I'm glad I couldn't hear that before, and I think I'd prefer never hearing it again."

"You heard it this time?" you ask, and manage to get to your own, admittedly shaky feet.

"You were the one speaking," Nao responds, and when you snap your head around to gawk at her, it's obvious that she's more than just a little disturbed by it all. "Only the voice sure wasn't yours."

You sigh. "Sometimes I could really, truly deal with just being a perfectly normal kid," you mutter, and take care not to touch the wall as you straighten fully. You don't know if the loss of control was because the energy is stronger here or simply because more of you was in contact with the source, but you'd rather avoid finding out. "Why the hell can't you hear this stuff when I can?"

"Well..." Nao falls into step beside you as you continue down the path. "Whoever that was called you 'Natsuki-hime'."

"I _was_ a HiME," you agree. "But you..."

"Are not, near as we know" Nao finishes, and wraps her arms around herself as she shivers faintly. "Maybe that's why?"

"Maybe," you mutter, and glance up as the path widens into a large cave in front of you. "Ah. I guess we're here."

"Oh, joy," Nao mumbles. "Welcome to Creepout Central."

The cave is massive, you determine as you crane your neck back and fail to make out anything but the tips of the largest stalactites hanging from the ceiling somewhere above. This place could hold an entire soccer field – bleachers included – and still have room left over for plenty more. You also count – as expected - twelve stone pillars; all covered in strange carvings, all glowing softly with the same, blue light that the walls give off, and all standing at twice your height in a rough circle in the middle of the cavern floor.

"This is seriously weird," Nao mutters next to you. "What the hell is this place?"

"Where I know they are," you respond softly. Even from several feet away, you can feel the pillars humming softly, and you hear Nao's footsteps follow you uneasily as you continue towards them.

"Where _who_ is?" Nao demands. "Dammit, give me some straight answers!"

"The Childs." Cautiously, you touch the pillar that calls to you the most with a single finger, and hear a familiar growl echo in the back of your mind as you close your eyes. "Duran..." You touch the next one in exchange for for a melancholy call that sounds faintly like a whale. "Kagutsuchi..." Another pillar, and another low growl – somehow different this time. "Harry..." Slowly, you make your way around the outside of the circle, softly naming each of them while Nao watches in some concern from a few feet away. "Gennai, Miroku, Gakutenou, St. Vlas, Julia, Diana, Yatagarasu, Suishouhime, and..." You come full-circle – as it were – and reach towards the final pillar. "Kiyohime."

At that touch, the rush of energy is back, although this time you at least manage to stay upright.

_Enter the circle_, comes the hiss in your ears again, and you can almost feel a strange wind swirling around you. _Enter and learn... _There's more being said, but it's a cacophony of whispers that blend into a solid wall of unintelligible noise, and you pull back and have to take a few seconds to let your heartbeat settle back down before you turn to face Nao.

"I don't like that look on your face," she tells you. "That's not an epiphany – it looks more like idiocy."

Strangely, the alarm in her voice makes you smile. "They're asking me to enter the circle," you tell her, and hold up a hand to stop the protest you can see forming. "We have to figure this out somehow. This is the best bet."

"Fine," she replies after a few moments of sour scowling. "If you die, I'm gonna kick your ass."

That makes you grin. "Let's see," you tell her, and step into the circle. The HiME symbol is visible on the floor here, you note idly as you feel the air start to shift around you. It's still solid rock like the rest of the floor, but colored darker than what surrounds it, and when you step onto it, it starts glowing abruptly. Strongly.

Blindingly.

This time, the rush of power not only sends you to your hands and knees – it's so sudden and outright agonizing that it makes you cry out.

"_Those who came before are gone_," comes a growl, and you're vaguely aware of your own lips speaking the words much like earlier. "_Those who will be have yet to arrive_."

"_All is one, and one is all_," a hiss takes over. "_In Valhalla's halls and the true land of Fuuka, time is but a footnote in the story of eternity._"

"Natsuki!"

"No!" You somehow – somehow – manage to wrest enough control back to stop Nao before she can grab you. "This... needs to happen!" You grit your teeth against the pain. "Just... ten minutes!"

"_Release yourself, Natsuki-hime_," comes the growl once more. "_Find what you seek in the world that mortal eyes don't see._"

"_Come..._" The hiss again. "_Open your eyes, and we will show._"

Then there's a sudden suction around your middle, and before you can blink, the entire room – everything around you – just disappears.

xXxXx


	4. Chapter 4

For disclaimers (sort of), please see chapter one.

**Author's notes:**  
Uh... yeah, I got nothing. That's certainly a first.

Enjoy.

**Distortion**  
Chapter 4

* * *

_Natsuki-hime_... It's a strange voice that intrudes on your mind and carefully starts drawing you back towards alertness. It's young, first of all, but definitely male. _Wake up..._ Almost detachedly, you feel something warm and rough in an oddly soft way rasp gently over your cheek, and groan in response. _Wake up,_ _Natsuki... _The next thing you notice is a gentle pressure against your ribs in a spot just below your left shoulder, and then your mind is suddenly fully alert and clamoring to remind you of the events that came before your losing consciousness.

The cave. The voices. The sudden shift.

Your eyes pop open, and you blink several times as you find yourself staring into clear, ice-blue eyes set against a background of thick, silvery fur. You're almost scared for half a second when hot breath from a mouth full of sharp teeth warms your skin from very close by, but these aren't the eyes of a wild animal. They're intelligent. Even affectionate.

_Welcome_,_ Natsuki-hime. _Duran – because it has to be him – removes his front paw from your chest and sits back on his haunches. He isn't speaking; rather, his voice simply sounds in your head as though he is, and you dazedly raise yourself up onto your elbows and look around.

It's definitely a change in scenery from the chilly, barren cavern, you decide fuzzily as you find yourself half-lying on your back in the sweet, spring grass of a wide meadow. The green stalks are thick and abnormally rich with color, and stand high enough that even from your now not-quite-supine position, you still have to stretch your neck to see over them. It does help somewhat that you're apparently near the top of a low hill, and can see a lazily flowing river intersecting the gently dipping valley below you; as well as the deeper green of a leafy forest off in the distance. Trees – either standing alone or in small groups – dot the meadow itself, as do wildflowers in all the colors of the rainbow, while a clear blue sky stretches overhead with only the faintest puffs of white floating slowly by.

"What is this place?" you ask hoarsely, and feel a warm breeze brush the grass against your face when you turn your head.

_This is the In-Between_, replies the surprisingly young tones of Duran's voice in your mind, and as you watch the silver head cock and his bushy tail furl around his legs, you realize that he _is_ young – hardly more than a half-grown pup. _Some call it Asgard. Some call it the Place of Waiting_.

"Waiting?" you echo. "For what?"

_For the cycle to repeat_, is the wolf's response, and he turns his head to gaze out across the meadow. _This where we spend the time that passes. Where we live our lives in reward for fighting and dying beside our masters and their Precious Ones – until the Wheel of Time has turned and we're called to battle once more._

Well, you decide as you to take in the view again and practically feel the peace of the place settle over you; you can certainly think of worse places to spend 300 years.

_Come_. Duran stands and noses your cheek, then carefully takes the sleeve of your jacket – the orange one of your normal uniform, you suddenly realize - between his teeth and tugs. _I will take you to them_.

"The other Childs?" you ask as you get to your feet.

_Them_, he replies as he starts easily loping through the high grass with gentle grace. _And the one who doesn't belong._

You're staggered enough by his words that it takes you a few seconds to start moving, but you do, and manage to catch up with him before he reaches the bottom of the hill. "She's here?" you ask as you hop over a rock, and feel your body once again moving in the way that your own usually does. "How?"

Duran's ears twitch towards your voice, and a single, blue eye meets your own. _We brought her_, he tells you. _We transferred you._

"What?!" You skid to a stop and set your hands on your hips as a sudden flash of anger hits you. "_You_ did this?!" you demand, and watch him come to a halt as well. "Why?!"

The wolf slowly turns to face you even as his velvety ears come down flat against the the back of his skull. _I'm sorry_, comes his voice, noticeably more subdued and uncertain now as he lowers his head and looks up at you through his eyelashes. _We needed your help, and didn't know any other way of gaining it_.

"You tore two people from their lives!" you insist through clenched teeth.

_We did_, he admits as he lowers his body and slowly approaches you with his belly close to the ground and his tail curled against one hip. _But it was the only way we could find of reaching you._

"Why me?" you ask, a little more calmly this time, though judging by Duran's pose, the anger is still very much present in your posture and your eyes. "Why not Mai? Or Yukino?" You know they're present in this world as well, after all.

_You have helped to break the cycle in your world, Natsuki-hime,_ Duran responds while he cautiously nuzzles your calf. _And she has the position needed to command respect in this one_.

This one. You sigh softly and lower yourself to your bare knees in front of him before gently ruffling the soft fur on his head. "You're not my Duran, are you?"

_No_. The affection makes his ears pick up, and his head raises slightly. _I'm the one who will tie myself to whomever shares your talents here, when the cycle begins again_.

You rub two fingers against your forehead and exhale slowly. "Let's try this in plain Japanese," you suggest. "The Carnival still exists in this reality, yeah?"

_Yes_.

"You removed her, and brought me into her body because where I come from, we managed to put an end to it – permanently."

_Yes_.

"Well, that's two for two so far," you mutter to yourself. "Now for the one I _don't_ get: Why?"

_Because we hope that you can help put an end to it in this realm, as well_. Duran's head pushes into your hand, and his paws find purchase on your thighs while he gently licks your face. _Your Duran – all your Childs – are free now. Here, we're as trapped by the Carnival and the whims of the Obsidian Lord as the HiME themselves, only we die and are reborn with every turn of the wheel and know it._

You feel the silky fur on the top of his head brush against your throat, and curl your arms around his body. There's power beneath the soft, thick coat, but a surprising, hidden fragility as well, and the sensation of that combination huddling against your chest brings to mind the instance when you died yourself, because when you held Shizuru like this, it carried a very similar feeling.

_We don't want to die any more_, comes the soft words, and you realize that the living warmth now cradled in your arms is that of a child in more ways than one. For all the memories he apparently has of only the heavens know how many previous lives, Duran is young and has never known anything but battle and preparing for it, and he's frightened.

It's certainly a feeling you can relate to.

"Alright," you tell him, and grin faintly when you see the tip of his tail wag. "Then you need to tell me how I _can_ help."

You feel him start to respond – more a tickle at the back of your mind than anything else – and then he abruptly tenses against you, and whatever words were coming are instead replaced with a low growl.

_Down!_ Duran's paws shove you back into the grass while he leaps over you with a snarl, and the sudden blackness that descends like the darkest of night is quickly forgotten when a massive claw swipes through the air where your head was only seconds ago. Orphans, you realize when you see a good dozen of the hulking, malformed creatures circling you, and hear Duran's howl in your head _and_ with your ears as he charges at one of them.

_Call them!_ he yells urgently while you roll out of the way of a massive, downwards blow, and you don't even consider his words as you get to your feet. There's no conscious thought involved at all – only instinct when you bare your teeth and spread your fingers, and in a split-second feel the familiar chill of your Elements appearing in your hands. Your head then manages to catch up to what's going on, and you're so stunned that your first shot misses entirely and you have to dive out of the way of a blast of stinking fire.

Your second, however, is true; it nails the closest Orphan right between the eyes, and then you force yourself to stop thinking entirely, and just start reacting. Everything narrows down to the familiar surge of adrenaline; to the separation of ally and enemy, and to the simplicity of _kill or be killed_. Somewhere in the swirling mass of offense and defense – of kicks, leaps, punches and in Duran's case claws and bites – you manage to register the sound of two feet and four paws pounding against the ground in rapid approach, and once more, instinct saves your neck as you duck just in time for a massive blade to whistle through the air over your head and slice open the Orphan in front of you.

Then there's two more allies engaged in the battle; striped fur joining with Duran's solid gray, and gleaming, speed-blurred metal accompanying your gunshots while angry yells in a familiar voice echo your own. You're not sure how long it lasts – you're only conscious of getting the hell out of the way when you're between the deadly blade and its unfortunate target, and of correcting your aim when she's the one unintentionally blocking. Every once in a while, you're even aware of the odd sensation of her back against yours as your very differing weapons and styles just somehow _match_.

The Orphans don't stand a chance.

Finally, the last one falls, and the darkness is replaced by the sunshine as suddenly as the reverse happened earlier. The bodies of your enemies fade away in a shower of green sparkles that you've seen more times than you care to count, and the singed and trampled grass and flowers restore themselves as though the battle never happened in the first place.

A sudden shift in the currents of air around you warns you, and you turn a hasty leap into a backflip when the blade slices towards your ankles. You land steadily a few feet back, and raise your arms to aim your own weapons squarely at her face just as the razor-sharp edge is brought to a sudden and carefully controlled stop a mere hair away from your throat. And her breathing, you note as the two of you hold that silent stand-off, is as unencumbered as yours is.

The weapon, you now have the presence of mind to idly identify, is a yari. Both the blade and the long handle it's attached to is a dully gleaming blue so dark it's practically black; accented by fine, swirling lines of bright, clear green the exact same color as the eyes glaring into your own.

So this, you muse as you stare into the stony face of your mirror image, is her. Different and the same all at once, and the only things distinguishing the two of you from each other in terms of pure physicality are the weapons in your hands and the clothes on your bodies, because she's in the uniform that you've grown to loathe wearing, and you're in the one that you feel at home in. That helps explain the return of familiarly shifting muscles on your frame, because this is apparently a place for consciousness rather than physical form, and in that sense, you are fully yourself here.

_Can the body exist without the mind?_ you find yourself wondering, and continue to meet the icy gaze across from you without blinking. _Let's not find out_.

"Get out," she growls lowly, and there's a harshness to her voice that rakes at your hearing in a foreign way.

"I'm not here by choice," you return; realizing that she's talking about more than simply this space. "And in case the fight wasn't enough of a clue, we're on the same side."

She doesn't respond, and you adjust your grip on your own Elements when the chilly edge of hers presses against your skin.

"Watch it," you tell her, and decide to try a different tack. "If you kill me, you'll probably ruin your own chances of getting back, and that would really piss Nao off."

That makes something click in the eyes boring into your own, and although her lips tighten angrily, you also feel the flat of the blade now rather than the edge of it. It stays against your skin for a few moments longer – her way of making a point, you suppose – and then it's pulled away just before the weapon disappears entirely in a flash of light. She snarls at you then, before turning on her heel and stalking towards a rustle in the high grass. One of her arms reach down, and as you watch, a small cobra winds its way up along the path offered, and she waits for it to curl up on her shoulder before marching off the way she came with a huff.

Slowly, you let out a breath as you lower your now slightly trembling arms and finally allow your Elements to fade from your hands. "Jeez," you mutter into the air, though it's halfway aimed at the soft tread of several paws now approaching. "And people say _I'm_ cranky."

_I'm sorry about that_, Duran replies abashedly as he sits down on your right-hand side. _She was told why she's here, but she still sees your presence as an intrusion on her territory. She's... rather stubborn_.

"At least we have that in common," you mutter, and glance down at the half-grown tiger now curiously sniffing at your sleeve. "Hello, Harry."

"Rrrrowl." The tiger's deep, purring reply is purely animalistic, although there's definite intelligence in his golden eyes as well.

"Why can't I understand him?" you ask, and run your fingers through his fur when he butts his head insistently against your stomach.

_Here, like out there, you only connect to one of us_, Duran replies, and tilts his head as he studies you. _And you can only understand the one you're connected with_.

The grass in front of you rustles sharply, and you blink as a tiny armadillo barrels out of it and comes to a skidding stop. There's a brief second of shocked silence, and then it begins squealing and squeaking agitatedly while hopping in place on all four feet. Harry hisses in response, though that doesn't seem to deter the much smaller animal in the slightest.

_Never mind Gakutenou_, Duran tells you as he snaps his jaws at the newcomer and - when it curls into a ball in instinctive response - noses it hard enough to send it tumbling down the hillside with an outraged chitter. _He's just mad that he was late for the fight_.

"Ribbit." This time, it's a toad that emerges from the greenery, and you crouch and tilt your head as you study it curiously.

"...Gennai?"

"Ribbit."

"...right." Apparently all the Childs are in more natural forms here, as opposed to mecha and magic. "Where are the others?"

_Yatagarasu was watching all along_, Duran tell you as he points his nose towards the sky, and you crane your neck back to see a crow circling overhead. _But he rarely involves himself unless he deems that his presence is needed. Vlas..._ he opens his mouth to pant, and it looks very much like he's grinning. _...Vlas doesn't fight if he can avoid it; he's not a coward, but force just isn't his way. He's probably grazing by the river._

"Julia?" you then wonder. "Kagutsuchi? Diana?"

_Diana is limited in how far she can move_, is Duran's reply. _She kept an eye on things, and would have sent the others if their help had been needed. _He noses your exposed knee_. Now please come. Harry and I will take you to see the rest._

"Mm." You eye the softly croaking toad still sitting calmly on the ground in front of you, and then hold your hand out towards it. "Want a lift?"

"Raaawk." Gennai obligingly hops onto your palm, and you shake your head as you get to your feet.

"Alright." The sheer absurdity of being escorted by a large wolf puppy and a teenaged tiger while carrying a toad doesn't escape you, but you shake it off. "Let's go."

xXxXx

It takes a surprisingly long walk to reach the slow-moving river, but at least Duran and Harry are playful and agile enough to keep you entertained with the way they hop and bounce around; occasionally tackling each other to the ground in pretend fights that make you smile.

_No_, his voice is saying as he wades into the low water, _we probably can't prevent the Carnival from occurring at least once more. Stopping it entirely isn't what we're asking you to do._

"Well, that's a relief," you murmur as you follow him, and watch Gennai jump from your hand and into the clear waters. "It took all twelve of us last time, and a few more besides."

_Such a task is too much for any one person – even a HiME._ Duran climbs onto the opposite bank while Harry simply leaps, and as you near them, you're treated to a impromptu bath when they both shake themselves thoroughly.

"Hey!"

"Grawwwr – awp!" Harry yawns hugely – clearly unimpressed – and then licks his chops before ambling off towards a single tree that leans over the river not too far away.

Duran gives you a sheepish look. _You'll dry fast in the sun_, he then offers apologetically_._

"Yeah, yeah." You wring out the hem of your jacket with a sigh, and then climb out of the knee-high waters and onto the bank. "So what it is that you want me to do?"

The clear, blue eyes regard you thoughtfully._ Misery and despair feed the power of the Obsidian Lord_, Duran says after a few seconds of silence, before he too starts off towards the tree. _So happiness, we think, is the key to his ultimate defeat_.

Alright, you decide as you nod slowly. That makes sense. "And?"

_And..._ he gamely picks up. _… while not all who carry the gene become HiME, the happiness experienced by those who hold the power without ever using it seems to give greater chances of joy to their successors._

"Or in layman's terms," you return wryly, "If the passive vessel has a good time, the active one probably will, too."

An amused look. _Essentially,_ he agrees. _Not many vessels carrying the gene exist in this world at the moment, but the few that do are not happy. They're all at the Academy, and all are familiar faces to you, so seeking them out should be simple._

"I can't do anything about Nao," you remind him.

_No_, Duran acknowledges. _That's for the one who doesn't belong to repair. But you **can** do something about the others, and we're asking that you try. Help them find happiness, and their followers will have a far better chance at doing what you and yours did._

"And then you'll send me home?"

_We will_, he promises. _All you'll have to do is enter the circle again while the moon is full, and we'll reverse the transfer if you have completed your task._

"If?" That word makes you turn your head towards him, and you quirk an eyebrow. "And if I haven't?"

Now, Duran looks distinctly uncomfortable. _We... urge you to make sure before you re-enter the circle_, he then explains softly; almost gently. _If something is missing, we won't be able to keep the other side from interfering._

Something about the intonation in his voice makes a definite chill that has nothing to do with your damp clothes run down your spine. "So... do or die, huh?"

… _yes_.

Oh, boy. You'd really have loved to have heard that piece of information before you were pulled here, but on the other hand, you wouldn't have been able to prevent the shift from one world to the other anyway, so worrying about that is more than just a little bit pointless. You fold your arms over your chest and watch your own feet move as the two of you stride onwards in silence, and as you blink, a set of warm, crimson eyes and a gentle smile flit past behind your eyelids.

"Well, then I'd better get it right the first time," you mutter. "Damn if I'm not going home after all this." You raise your head, and realize that you've gotten much closer to the tree by now – enough that you can see several figures of varying shapes and sizes moving around near it. One in particular is sitting completely still at the base of the wide trunk, and just the sight makes your figurative hackles raise.

_The two of you will have to work together at some point_, comes Duran's voice in your head again.

"I'm not the one with the attitude problem," you argue.

_Different, and yet the same_, he replies bemusedly; echoing your earlier thoughts. _You have more in common with her than you realize._

You snort and roll your eyes. At least she hasn't taken your place in your world, like you thought she might have. Heaven only knows what mess you'd come home to if that had been the case. Speaking of which...

"What's going on in my reality while I'm here?"

_Nothing_, comes the surprising answer. _Time doesn't pass at the same rate. In the world you know, you'll barely be gone at all. As long as you succeed._

"I will," you say, both for his ears and your own.

You're close enough to the tree now that you can make out all the various beings near it. Your counterpart, for one, who's reclining against the trunk and staring off into the distance with a surly expression on her face and Kiyohime the cobra still curled loosely on her shoulder. Gennai, who's swimming circles around a small octopus that you determine to probably be Diana's incarnation. Harry's splayed out on his side on a large, sunbathed rock with Gakutenou tucked against his belly. Near the bank, the while foal that you realize is St. Vlas is lazily cropping grass, and on one of the thick branches extending over the water, Yatagarasu the crow is flapping his wings and cawing at a white lizard – Kagutsuchi – who hisses in response and flicks his tail. Not far from them is a web and its accompanying spider – Julia – and the last two are represented as the only ones by an inanimate object; a small dagger with a crystal handle resting on the grass near your alternate's hip.

Miroku and Suishouhime. Fused together.

Fitting, somehow.

As you draw nearer still, your counterpart looks up sharply, and it's no wonder that people shy away from your glare, you muse; it really is a pretty intimidating sight. Kiyohime's head raises, however, and as a tiny tongue flicks out towards your alternate's ear, she glances down at the snake with a surprised look on her face before ultimately scowling. Then she rises with a growl, and carefully settles the cobra on a sunkissed branch before stalking towards you.

"I want to go home," she tells you brusquely when she comes to a stop not two feet away.

"And I don't?" you snap back, while Duran pads off towards the other Childs. "Trust me, I was way happier where I was, and I don't want this world any more than you'd want mine."

"Then _leave_," she snarls.

"I _can't_," you snarl right back. "Like it or not, I've been tasked with something to do, and unless I _do it_, neither of us is going anywhere." You set your hands on your hips and level your best glare at her, and find some satisfaction in the fact that she blinks, which you haven't done so far. "So if you could stop acting like a pissy wolverine on angeldust and let me get the hell on with it, I'd appreciate it!"

"... you'd better leave Nao alone," she then growls.

Oh, for fuck's sake. "Trust me, she's all yours," you grumble, and roll your eyes. "My most important person is someone else entirely."

"Who?"

"Not anyone you'd know," you mutter. "She doesn't exist here."

Finally, something that makes those stony eyes soften – if only by a fraction. "Fine. I'll wait," she says. "Just hurry."

"Do my best," you promise quietly. "Allies?" The best term you can think of, because friends is just too damn unlikely at this point.

She eyes you for a long moment, and then nods once. "Allies."

_Shake on it!_ The sudden intrusion of Duran's voice makes your gaze snap over her shoulder, and she must've heard something too since she twirls in place. Much to the chagrin of both of you, all twelve Childs are watching you with an interest they aren't bothering to hide, and Duran displays his canine grin while he lifts one front paw off the ground. _Shake! _he insists.

You shake your head in exasperation, and although the crooked, wryly amused grin on your counterpart's face when she turns back around surprises you, you find yourself mirroring it. Literally.

She extends her hand. You clasp it. And then everything around you fades away in flash of silvery light.

xXxXx

"_'Kaa-san!" You wave a long stick from the yard in the air as you run towards a figure in the distance on unsteady feet. "Watch! Go boom!"_

"_Hm?" Your mother turns with a smile. "Do you want to be a swordsman, Natsuki?"_

"_No!" You scowl and try to demonstrate, swinging the branch over your head and twirling in place all of one time before landing on your rump with a thud. "Go boom!" You giggle and raise your arms over your head. "Like that!"_

_The sound of your mother's laughter makes you grin. "Well, we'll see about getting you some classes in going boom, then," she tells you, and gently brushes your hair back. "But you have to be a little older first."_

xXxXx

"_Bad weather, 'Kaa-san." You watch the rain lash against the passenger side window with wide eyes, and jump when a bolt of lightning splits the sky in two._

"_I know, sweetheart," your mother tells you soothingly. "We'll be home soon. Just stay in your seat, okay?"_

"_Okay," you say, and then another bolt of lightning strikes a tree just next to the mountain road you're on, and the car swerves wildly as your mother frantically tries to avoid the falling lumber and rock heading straight for you._

"_Kaa-san! Kaa-san!"_

xXxXx

"_Natsuki?" You look up to see a woman with a bright pink bob of hair and clear, gentle blue eyes kneel in front of your bed in the orphanage. "My name is Himeno Fumi. I run a school not far from here, and I'd like to offer you a place in it."_

"_Why?" you practically spit._

"_Because everyone needs somewhere to be," the woman tells you. "Now, I'd also become your guardian, but I have no intention of trying to replace your mother. I'd simply be there in whatever capacity you want me to. Would that be acceptable?"_

"_Can I continue my lessons?" you ask after a while._

"_In martial arts? Of course."_

_She's honest. Even blunt. And you can appreciate that after a few years of platitudes and condescending pats on the head._

"_Then it's fine."_

xXxXx

"_Hey." You look down the alleyway and see an already familiar figure in a middle-school uniform standing over the incapacitated figure of a grown man. Where she's learned how to do that, you don't know, but she... fascinates you, for some reason. "Maybe try investing some of that sometime, yeah?"_

_Yuuki Nao spins on her heel and glares at you. "What I do is none of your business!" she insists bitingly._

"_Just offering some advice," you shrug. "You'll be no good to your mother if you get arrested."_

"_Fuck off!"_

"_Suit yourself," you tell her, and walk away. "Find me if you change your mind."_

xXxXx

_Wake up, Natsuki-hime. _It's Duran's voice again, and you claw your way towards it through the flood of images and emotions that have nothing and everything to do with you at the same time.

_Wake up..._

_Wake up..._

"Dammit, I said WAKE UP!"

The sudden, sharp sting of a powerful slap makes your eyes pop open and your head snap to the side. Just your luck, you determine as you draw in a wheezing breath and start coughing. Of course you'd come around just as Nao decides to start getting physical.

"Jesus FUCK, woman!" Nao grabs your shoulders and hauls your head off the cold stone floor and into her lap. "Don't EVER do that again – are you INSANE?!"

"Hey, it worked," you croak weakly.

"And _you_ stopped breathing," she growls. "Remember that it's not your own body you're fucking around with here, wouldya?!" The low, bluish light is coloring the mist of breath as she speaks, and glittering in the wet trails that line her cheeks. "Serves you right if you've got a cracked rib with how hard I had to pound your chest."

"Sorry," you mutter, and wait for your lungs to start functioning normally again while silence settles.

"... Nao?"

"What?"

"Thanks."

"... sure."

xXxXx

**End notes:**  
_That_ was the remainder of chapter three. Now I sleep. Review replies tomorrow. Tired. *conks*


	5. Chapter 5

For disclaimers (sort of), please see chapter one.

**Author's notes:**  
Egads, but the snow! And down to minus twenty centigrade during the night this week. Think maybe I can work from home and stay under a blanket, or should I just bring the blanket to work with me?

Enjoy.

**Distortion  
**Chapter 5

* * *

"Dammit, I'm fine!" you insist for the Nth time in the half hour you've been firmly relegated to bedrest.

"My name isn't Dammit," Nao responds wryly from the small kitchenette.

"You're right," you growl and fold your arms angrily across your chest; only to wince. "It's _impossible_." Alright, so your ribs are actually pretty sore right now, but none of them are either broken _or_ cracked – you've suffered those injuries enough times to know explicitly what they feel like, and this isn't it. If anything, they're bruised, and that certainly isn't enough reason to just lie here like an invalid.

"Hiya, Pot – Kettle speaking," is the dry reply as Nao fills your mug with tea and ambles closer. "You _died_ in there, alright? Your _heart stopped beating_," she intones seriously. "Are you following me here, or have I lapsed into some obscure dialect of otaku-ese all of a sudden? Why aren't you worried about that?"

You merely glower in return. Alright, so you possibly died for a while – it's happened before, hasn't it? Old news, and besides which, you came back - also something that's happened before, albeit not thanks to Nao. Certainly not something that warrants suddenly being treated like fragile glass.

"I'm fine," you insist. "I can't just friggin' sit here! There's stuff I'm supposed to do, and the sooner I figure out what, the sooner we can have this whole mess fixed."

"Yeah, nice to meet you, too," Nao snorts. "Whatever it is those creepy whatchamacallits want you to get up to for their sake, it'll keep for half a day. You can go back to playing Nancy Drew on steroids tomorrow – it's not like they gave you a time limit."

You scowl at her in irritation, because she's right and you both know it. You told her as much on the walk back to the dorms, which you made somewhat awkwardly under your own power, because to have the kaichou need to be supported like that was bound to raise more questions than either of you would be inclined to answer.

"Fine," you reluctantly agree after several moments of your eyes fencing. "Today, but that's it. At least gimme the laptop so I can do some research; unless you think me too frail to type on that?"

Nao rolls her eyes, but sighs and fetches the object in question from the desk before handing it to you – the slight flinch you give when you bear the weight of it in one extended arm doesn't escape her, but she merely raises an eyebrow in silent commentary.

"Shut up," you mutter.

"Didn't say a word," she returns with a smirk.

You shake your head and settle the computer on the sheets next to you, and then hold out your hand for the mug of lightly steaming liquid that Nao's now offering. As you take it from her, your fingers brush briefly, and only your own fast reflexes keep the hot tea from spilling onto the floor while you blink rapidly.

Did Nao just... _glow?_

"What the..." you stare at her in return for a curious look, and then set the mug on the nightstand. "Gimme your hand," you insist.

Got both red eyebrows raised on that one. "Why you little devil, you," Nao returns coyly, and bats her eyelashes at you. "I didn't know you were such an aggressive flirt."

"Tha- wha..." You let your head fall back onto the pillows and lower your voice to an unintelligible grumble while doing your best to ignore both your own blush and Nao's laughter. "Idiot!" you finally recover. "That's not what I meant!"

"Oo, touchy," your companion returns through her own snickers. "'Samatter? Got someone waiting for you back home?"

_Maybe_, your mind whispers, though your mouth doesn't deign to answer. "Listen," you tell her instead. "I saw something when I touched your hand. I just wanna see if it was a trick of the light, alright?"

"What?" Nao's amusement finally winds down, and she cocks her head at you instead as she takes a seat on a nearby chair. "You didn't mention anything like that back in the cave."

You groan and exhale sharply through your noise. "Back in the cave, I wouldn't have seen a full-grown elephant if the gods-be-blasted thing was about to cop a squat right on my chest," you reply testily. "Now _give me_ your damn _hand!_"

"Jeez, what crawled up your butt and died?" Nao mutters, but obligingly – _finally_ – extends her hand and clasps yours loosely.

It definitely wasn't a trick of the light, you determine somewhat dazedly, and can only watch in absolute amazement when a gentle, shifting glow suddenly outlines Nao's entire body as a result of the physical contact. It doesn't extend more than a few inches in any direction, but it's definitely _there_. Silvery for the inner half – a clean and surprisingly warm shade given the color, but also outlined in a darker, bruised purplish-black that mostly reminds you of rot. _Joy_, you realize abruptly, and _sorrow_ respectively.

Is this something the Childs let you take back with you, you suddenly wonder – a way of positively identifying the people belonging to the group you're supposed to better the lives of?

"You're a carrier," you whisper in... well, not shock, because you suspected as much. Confirmation, maybe?

Either way, it fast becomes irrelevant when all the color suddenly drains from Nao's face, and she yanks her hand away as though she was burned. "_What?_" she hisses at you, and honestly looks like she's about to keel over on the spot. "Carrier of _what?!_"

"Of the HiME gene," you hastily explain, because to you it certainly looks as if she's suspecting something else entirely.

"...oh." Nao slumps in her seat in almost violent relief, and rubs a barely trembling hand over her face. "That."

"Yeah," you agree, and eye her. "That. What'd you think I meant?"

Nao rests her elbows on her knees, and then her forehead against her folded hands as she closes her eyes. "My mother's been in and out of hospitals since I was in pre-school," she explains hoarsely, after several long moments of tense silence. "It's cost her a lung, a bit of her colon, a few skin grafts and I won't even bore you with how many bills since we have no insurance, but they're cautiously optimistic that the cancer's in remission now."

"... oh," you echo her earlier mutter. "No wonder you don't like her smoking."

"Mm."

"Does she know?"

"About my mother?" Nao queries, and waits for you to nod. "Well, she knows she's been sick." From one of the flashes you got earlier, you guessed as much. "But does she know exactly _what_ it is?" A thoughtful pause before she shakes her head. "No, I don't think so."

"Why haven't you told her?" you wonder.

Nao spreads out her hands. "To what end?" she responds. "To guilt her into quitting? She's already gone above and beyond to help pay the bills – wouldn't even call it a loan until I'd practically browbeaten her into it. I can't do that to her."

Incredible, you muse privately, that she can watch your counterpart do something like that and still be convinced that there's no emotion involved but lust and maybe friendship. Sadly, you remain with the distinct feeling that you could argue your point of view until you were blue enough in the face to qualify for Smurfhood; Nao still wouldn't believe it until she heard it from your alternate's own lips.

Something else occurs to you then – the treatments Nao's described would certainly be costly; much more so for someone who has no insurance at all.

"She's well-off," you guess, and force down a shudder as you remember another flash – that of the accident as it happened here, which probably resulted in at least a similar payment of life insurance. "How much?"

"I don't know," Nao responds with a shrug; seeming far more at ease at the change of subject. "I haven't asked, but she's certainly never seemed short of money." She nods towards the laptop. "Pretty sure she has online banking, though, so you can always check." A wry look. "You _are_ her, after all."

Fair point, you concede with a nod, and lift the computer into your lap. You have to spend a while considering what her password would be – another reference to Nao, as it turns out – but you manage, and then practically choke on your own tongue. Your counterpart, you realize while your head spins, is far, _far_ beyond simply being 'well-off'. Well, she's not a multimillionaire... anymore. She's a friggin' multi_billionaire_. You even manage to find the transfer that presumably paid for Nao's mother's care in full, and large as it is, it's barely a drop in the bucket. No wonder she was fully prepared to simply give it away.

You remember her voice saying something about investing, and sure enough, there's several individual accounts set up entirely for that purpose – the original signer for the start-up being one Himeno Fumi. They're all managed by the same man; a name you don't recognize, but under whose authority the original insurance sum has grown by leaps and bounds every single year since your counterpart would've been five or six years old. Ten years plus of careful investments and returns combined with little to no spending means that at this point, she's pocketing a profit of close to _a hundred and fifty thousand yen on a daily basis_ by simply letting her money – and her banker - work for her.

"Damn," you mutter as you turn to face Nao, who's politely not looking over your shoulder. So this is what happens when there's no informants and the like to spend the money on; not to mention a distinct decrease in living expenses, since she stays in the dorms and - as you see no tuition payments - is apparently here on a scholarship. "Well, I guess getting you a new jacket shouldn't be a problem."

"That much, huh?" Nao mumbles bemusedly. "I figured."

"You have no idea," you tell her solemnly. "Trust me, she doesn't miss the loan to you at all."

"Seriously?" Nao blinks. "We're talking quite a few yen, you know."

"Trust me," you repeat. "She doesn't miss it."

"Damn." Nao echoes you this time.

"Oh yeah."

There's a sharp, brief knock on the door at this point, and you quickly click out of the current window – if only out of a sense of propriety for you counterpart's sake – before closing the laptop entirely. Just in time, too, because within a second, the door's opened halfway, and another head of read hair is poking around it.

"Ah, our remarkably anti-social kaichou," Mai grins. "Thought I'd find you here, Natsuki." She steps in, and only then seems to notice the now third occupant in the room – with some surprise, too. "Nao-san?" The fiery head tilts. "What are you doing here?" Another glance at you. "...and what are you doing in bed at this time of day?"

Oh, brother. You exchange glances with Nao. Judging by Mai's surprise, she definitely doesn't know anything about your alternate and Nao spending time together, and being practically horizontal at this time of the day obviously isn't entirely in character for her, either. So how to explain this?

"I talked Kuga-kaichou into demonstrating the use of the yari," Nao speaks up, and the mention of the weapon that was also your counterpart's Element makes you have to force down a surprised jolt. "But I got in the way, and she ended up hitting herself to avoid hitting me." This with a regretful look so genuine and yet not overdone that you're honestly impressed. Nao being a good liar isn't all that astounding, but still...

"I caught myself in the ribs," you continue. "Nothing bad – just a little sore."

"Ah? Okay, then," Mai nods, apparently swallowing the tale without the faintest hint of indigestion. "Well, I'm glad to run into you anyway, Nao-san - Mikoto is looking for you," she then informs your companion. "Something about a project the two of you were working on?"

Nao rolls her eyes. "Figures that she wouldn't forget about obligations," she mutters.

You, meanwhile, are wondering why Mai knows the number of this room when Nao doesn't – or rather _didn't_ know - and as Mai turns and ducks back outside briefly, you send the younger of the two redheads a questioning look.

"I figured that if she wanted me to know," Nao tells you both quietly and rapidly, "she would've told me herself."

Urgh. You choke back a groan and pinch the bridge of your nose. Honestly – these two are impossible. Talk about lines crossing. Not to mention headaches.

"I'm off, then," Nao speaks up in a louder voice when Mai re-enters bearing a bag not dissimilar to the one you've used for school so far, and you hope to God there isn't some project that _you_ missed entirely. "I'll try to find the junior Kanzaki near the middle-school dorms. If she comes by here, send her that way."

"Will do, Nao-san!" Mai waves cheerfully after her while hanging halfway out the door. "Don't let her run you ragged, and if my brother turns up, tell him to call me, already!"

So Mikoto is a Kanzaki here, you decide, and half-catch Nao's muffled response floating down the hall before Mai shuts the door. That probably means that neither she or Reito – since they're apparently still siblings – was a Minagi at any point, because why send one child into hiding without a Carnival?

"Why is Mikoto working on a project with N- Yuuki-san?" you ask Mai, and watch her settle herself in the seat that Nao vacated.

"Ah, right, you probably haven't heard about it yet," your guest grins – much to your relief – and pulls a few books from her bag. "Well, Nao-san's been caught breaking curfew a little too often lately – even for her – and Mikoto's energy went through the roof once Reito-san joined the kendo club this semester. He just doesn't have as much time to keep her busy anymore."

You try to picture the fukukaichou in hakama and a keiko gi. Something isn't computing.

"Yeah, I know," Mai's bemused voice intrudes, and you turn your head to see a somewhat sad smile on her face. "He's never really been that interested in kendo before, but apparently it's a sport practiced by most men in the Suzushiro family. He decided it was important to Suzushiro-san that he try to find some common ground to discuss with them." She falls silent and stacks the three books she's removed into a neat pile on the nightstand next to you. "He's good at it, though," she tells you quietly.

You feel your brow furrow. Why in the world would Kanzaki Reito worry about impressing Suzushiro Haruka's family?

"_Haruka-chan?" Kanzaki is saying as he disposes of his teacup and straightens to offer his arm. "May I escort you?"_

Now, your brow is furrowing in an entirely different manner as your eyebrows climb high, rather than inch down, because how in the name of all that is good and holy did _those two_ end up as a couple? They've got about as much chemistry together as a goat and a pig would, for chrissakes!

It does, however, explain the look on Yukino's face the last time you saw the three of them together – especially if she's carrying a torch for Haruka in this reality as well – and you spend a few seconds wondering if maybe the HiME gene mutates more than people think. Your counterpart, Nao and Yukino... isn't it generally supposed to be closer to one in ten, rather than three in twelve?

"Anyway," Mai interrupts your musings. "The director decided that having Nao-san and Mikoto work together might get rid of some of the excess energy they apparently both have, so she's tasked them with making up for their missed Gym lessons together."

"That's an odd project," you note.

"Isn't it?" Mai half-muses. "But it seems to have worked so far, so I guess we shouldn't question it." She grins cheerfully, then, and claps her hands. "Now, let me make sure that you're right about your ribs only being sore, hm?"

"Wha-!" Mai's hands are carefully examining your ribs from above the material of your turtleneck before you can get any further in your protests, and the glare you send her is – as ever – merely met with a smile.

"Relax, Natsuki," she tells you, and reveals herself as another one of the passive vessels when she's outlined with the same glow that Nao was earlier. "Sagisawa-sensei has the weekends off, remember? I'm your best bet – it's not like you've ever had a fractured rib before."

"And you have?" you manage to argue, instead of insisting that you _have_ tried breaking bones of that kind. Several times.

"No!" Mai laughs. "But Takumi has. Remember last year when he wanted to try running the hurdles, knocked one over and landed with his lower ribs right against the edge?" She presses clinically against your side, and you study the shimmering outline curiously. There's more of the warm silver in hers, you note. Here's it's only roughly the outer quarter that's made up of that rotten, purplish color, and you take that to mean that Mai has more joy in her life than Nao does – even if she's not completely happy.

"Takumi-kun doing okay these days?" you ask on what's only half-way a whim.

"Oh yeah – he's fine," Mai responds as she keeps examining your ribs like a proper, mother hen. "Well... he's still having a bit of a time juggling the demands of the track team with those of the cooking club, but he manages." A grin. "And our parents are still somewhere between impressed and confused at such opposite interests, but oh well, ne?"

"Mm." You give a somewhat preoccupied, appropriately agreeable noise. Track team... meaning that Takumi definitely doesn't have heart problems here, because if he did, no doctor worth their salt would allow that sort of activity. Nor would his sister, for that matter – or their parents; both of which are apparently alive and well.

"Does this hurt?" Mai asks.

"No."

"Hm." Pause. "This?"

"Grmph." Your nose twitches. "It's alright."

Mai retracts her hands with a smile, and the glow around her fades into nothingness as she settles back in her seat. "Well, I guess you were right, Natsuki," she tells you. "Nothing broken, and simply bruised at most."

"I told you so," you mutter at her.

"Yes, yes." She waves one hand dismissively at you. "But making sure doesn't hurt." Mai pats the low stack of books she deposited earlier. "Good timing for me dropping these off, hm? You can always read them while resting, because you probably should take it easy for the rest of the day if you want any hopes of not killing yourself at the diving club tomorrow afternoon."

Books your counterpart apparently wanted to borrow, you infer from that, and nod while you make a mental note to find out exactly when you're supposed to make your way towards the indoor pool. "Thanks," you tell her. "Should be more interesting than staring at the ceiling, anyway."

Mai grins. "Hopefully," she agrees, and rises from her seat while claiming her bag. "I'll let you rest, then. See you tomorrow!"

"Yup." You pick up the first book, and wonder why your alternate would want a novel-sized, non-fiction work on the Roman Empire. "See you then."

xXxXx

Several hours later, night – or at least darkness – has fallen, and you rise for the third time in the past hour and suppress yet another wince as you set the second tome down. All the books Mai brought with her are on ancient empires, and surprisingly, you're actually finding them to be pretty interesting reading. Apparently, you decide as you plod over to the kitchenette and start preparing yet another mug of tea for yourself, an interest in history is something else you seem to share with your alternate. It isn't something you can claim to have noticed in yourself before, you consider as you wait for the tea to steep, but then again, when have you had the time to just sit down and read for hours on end?

Not that you've spent the _entire_ time since Mai left on the books she dropped off; you've done productive work, too – such as looking up the names of the people you've yet to either hear of or encounter yourself in the Academy systems. At least the names of those who were directly involved in the Carnival, since Duran told you that the ones you'd have to help would all be here, and all ones you knew. The people you were able to actually find, however, were surprisingly few, but at least that should simplify things somewhat. It's easier to influence a lower number of individuals than a higher one, after all.

No, the only familiar faces here who were HiME back in your world are your counterpart, Yuuki Nao, Kanzaki Mikoto, Tokiha Mai, Kikukawa Yukino, Okuzaki Akira and of course Himeno Fumi – seven rather than twelve – and you add a little milk from a container resting in the small fridge to your tea as you think. Fujino Shizuru, then, is obviously not the only one missing. Munakata Shiho isn't here, and neither is Higurashi Akane, Suguira Midori or Sanada Yukariko. Seven passive carriers instead of twelve active ones, and while you stir the tea slowly, you determine that it must have something to do with the fact that the Carnival isn't happening. Yet, anyway.

And you really only have to worry about five of the seven, you remind yourself, since Duran said outright that your counterpart would have to be the one to take care of Nao's happiness. Furthermore, you can't do much about _hers_ either; she's certainly not here for you to focus on, and she won't be until you leave.

Exactly _what_ it is you're supposed to do still escapes you, but there's always tomorrow for that - at which point you have every intention of paying a visit to Himeno Fumi; 'your' guardian in this reality.

You claim the mug of tea in one hand and amble over to the single window in the room. The small table below it is nudged aside, and you open the large pane fully to draw in a lungful of the chilly air. Then you settle your elbows against the window sill, and lean on them as you cradle the mug in front of your face and watch the gentle mist rising from it curl lazy patterns in the air before your eyes.

_Natsuki._ That lilting voice in your head again. _I'm always thinking of you_.

"Yeah," you sigh, and send the steam swirling frantically before sipping the green tea slowly. "Me too."

xXxXx

_Come now, little one – did you really think it so easy? Those frail figures hold no power here, but I still do. Far moreso than them, and I must admit that you're catching my eye, lovely one._

_Mind my words, you who crossed the border – you will be mine._


	6. Chapter 6

For disclaimers (sort of), please see chapter one.

**Author's notes:**  
Woo, update! Short update, but an update regardless! Adult life is a great deal of fun, but work is taking up about 99.5% of my mental energy right now.

Enjoy.

**Distortion**  
Chapter 6

* * *

_Pweeeet!_

Oh, dear gods. You only barely manage to make yourself not jump out of your skin – the noise of that damn whistle is annoying enough out in the open, but as is usually the case around pools, there is nothing but stone and glass making up the walls of this massive, domed room. Thus, the sound reverberates off of every single, smooth surface until it practically makes your teeth rattle, and had you still been feeling the effects of detox, you're quite certain that the irritating little offender would be either at the bottom of the pool or lodged halfway down the instructor's throat by now.

What sound would the latter option result in, you ponder idly, and see no cause to move as the rest of the team is apparently forming up behind and around you. Would it be something similar to the cooing of a pigeon, or more like the whistle of a steam engine with some sort of lung disease?

The coach does look like a pretty nice woman, you determine idly, though you don't get even the faintest twinge of recognition. She's probably about an inch taller than the average, has a fairly sturdy-looking – surprise of surprises – swimmer's build, with long, gently wavy gunmetal-gray hair tied back into a tight ponytail, hazel eyes and a face distinctly free of lines, but somehow full of experience at the same time. As for attire, she's the only one not clad in the bright-red one piece that's apparently the school-issue swimsuit in this world; instead, she's wearing red shorts with a white t-shirt.

She also coughs softly as she approaches, and you settle firmly on the steam engine.

"Welcome back, everyone," she says just as you realize that you have _no idea_ what her name is, and subsequently pick up your ears to catch any mention of it from the round dozen of other young women near you. "As you know, the end-of-year meets are starting within the next two weeks, and I expect you all to do your best. That goes for both the newcomers..." She eyes a few of the younger girls off to your far right. "...and the veterans." Now the hazel eyes study the girls standing closest by, but settle chiefly on you. "We've won the lot for the past two years. Let's stick with that."

"Yes, sensei!" comes a chorus of excited voices, and provide you with absolutely no clue as to the woman's name.

"Captain?" The hazel eyes catching your gaze would have alerted you to who the holder of _that_ title is even if you hadn't known at least that much in advance, and you quirk an eyebrow in question. "Anything you'd like to add?"

Oh, brother. Inspirational speeches _really_ aren't your forte.

"Not really," is what ends up coming out of your mouth. "I intend to lead by example. Whether or not the rest of you follow is up to you," you determine, and look around at the entirely unfamiliar faces. "Whichever you choose, do it all the way – well begun may be halfway done, but a job half-done makes a far bigger mess than a job not started at all."

"And of course, it'd be nice if we could send Kuga-san off to university with another win under her..." the instructor's lips twitch faintly. "... swimming belt."

Another comedian, you decide as you send her a droll look, which is answered with a smile as your teammates giggle.

"Enough chit-chat," your coach decides, and you grit your teeth as she blows the whistle again. "Juniors in the eastern pool, seniors in the western one – I want four half-laps from all of you as warm-up, two simple dives to loosen up with, and then _you are in charge of challenging each other_, understand?!"

"Yes, sensei!"

"And for God's sake, _stretch afterwards_!" she calls after the younger girls as they scamper towards the closest of the Olympic-sized pools. "The next time one of your names turns up in a note from Sagisawa-sensei, that girl is banned from taking part in any meets for the rest of the year!"

"Eep!"

"Kuga, hang back a second."

Considering that you've managed to take all of five steps in the direction of the far pool, that's an easy enough request to fulfill. "Yes?"

"You're moving stiffly," she tells you, and scans you with a clinical eye. "What's wrong?"

"I was showing a kouhai an attack with the yari yesterday," you respond, deciding to echo Nao's explanation to Mai for the second time today. "But she got in the way and I had to hit myself in the ribs to avoid hitting her."

"Anything broken?"

"No." You shake your head. "Sagisawa-sensei took at look at them this morning. They're sore, but that's it."

"Hm." Your coach nods. "Good. I wouldn't put it past you to show up if they _were_ broken."

Given that she'd probably be right in either universe, you elect to scratch your nose rather than offer an actual reply.

"Still," she goes on, "probably better if you keep to the simple stuff for a while. With competitions coming up, the last thing we need is for you to be injured."

Perfect. With any luck, you and your counterpart will have managed to put yourselves in the right places before your coach changes her mind, and you can spend your free time figuring out how to do that, instead of teaching yourself Diving 101.

"Tell you what," the woman speaks up again. "Go try a 203C, headfirst, off the high board. That'll put minimal stress on your ribs, but be enough for me to get an idea of how far I can push you over the next little while."

...rats. You carefully keep your face blanked and avoid showing the sudden stab of panic. What the hell is a 203C?

"Well?" The coach eyes you and settles one hand on her hip. "Are you going, or were you lying to me earlier?"

"I'm going," you reply, and bow lightly before turning on your heel and padding off towards the deep end – in more ways than one, your mind snarkily supplies. The rest of the seniors are – as instructed – swimming half-laps in the lower end of the massive pool, though as you reach the ladder, you grow uncomfortably aware of the sudden lack of splashing, and you don't need to look around to realize that every single eye in the room is firmly on you.

Crap.

_Alright_, you tell yourself firmly, and take a few seconds to make sure the tie in your hair is still keeping it out of your face, _just relax_. Before Nao knew what was going on, your body reacted to her kissing you... well, presumably not like its true owner would have, but the movements were definitely born from your counterpart's training. That much became painfully obvious when you saw her swinging the polearm around in the In-Between.

Hopefully, you consider as you start slowly climbing the ladder, you can make something similar happen now. There seemed to have been a transfer of some kind between the two of you, after all.

_Breathe_.

The '2', the part of this body's memory that's hers supplies as you reach the twelfth step, means that you jump with your back facing the water and rotate backwards, as well.

Inhale. Exhale.

The '0' means that's it's a normal dive, rather than a 'flying' one.

You flex your fingers around the handholds and keep climbing.

The '3' is the number of half-somersaults you have to do. And the C... the C is the position the jump is performed in – the tuck, in this case.

Alright, then. You hoist yourself onto the highest of the dive boards and stride to the end of it before facing away from the water and resolutely closing your eyes.

_Relax. Release. React. _You don't know what makes exactly those three words pop up, but they do, and you repeat them over and over in your head while attempting to block out everything else. It's one thing to know what moves to make, and quite another to perform them with the effortlessness that your counterpart probably would. You're astute enough to realize that, and know that your best bet really is just to give up control to the instincts of the body that you're currently inhabiting.

You're also self-aware enough to know that you're a bit of a control freak, however, so it won't be easy. Regardless, you draw in one final, carefully controlled breath, and expel it as you slowly raise your arms above your head. Your legs bend and tighten to push down on the board all the while, and you send a quick prayer to whomever might be listening that you aren't about to perform a painful, reverse bellyflop.

The diving board gives under your feet, and you watch as if with someone else's eyes as it then resists and starts to spring back up; triggering a surge of rapid, uncoiling power in your thighs that catapults you upwards and backwards into mid-air. Halfway through the arch of the jump, your body tucks into itself – your knees curling against your chest and your arms folding around the backs of your thighs. Everything is moving in slow-motion, but even so, it's nothing but a blur of pale skin, dark hair and bright red fabric as you watch yourself twirl exactly one-and-a-half times before even starting to move more downwards than outwards. There's plenty of time left for your body to position itself for the actual dive-part of the jump, and you just barely get to watch yourself enter the water with a remarkably small splash – your posture straight as an arrow from the nails of your extended fingers to the tips of your pointed toes.

As you're fully beneath the surface, you come back to yourself – as it were – and blink a few times until your eyes can adjust to the chlorine in the comfortably cool water. That, you decide as the rushing sound of your immersion fades, somehow seemed way, way too easy. And just as that thought leaves your head, a small film of memory replaces it - of a younger version of her performing the same jump, but from a board only a meter or so above the surface.

No wonder then, you determine, and bring your arms down to slow your descent and right yourself as you exhale a few bubbles of air.

_Natsuki..._

Your eyes _were_ pointed to the surface while you turned yourself towards it, but at that sound – that _voice_ – they snap to the area immediately in front of you, and only savagely clamping down on your reflexes keeps you from sucking in a shocked, ill-advised breath.

It's a hallucination of some kind. It has to be, because there is no way that Fujino Shizuru is floating not two feet away from you right now – in the middle of all that peaceful, blue water and backlit by the winter sunlight streaming through the massive windows at the low end of the pool. Not in casual clothes, not with her hair loose and waving gently around her head and face as if she was some mythical mermaid, and _certainly_ not in a universe where she doesn't even exist.

Figment of your imagination or not, you swear you can feel the warmth from her hand as she cups your cheek, and it feels _so damn good_ to see her smile at you again.

_I miss you_, you mouth at her, and when her gaze gentles in response and her forehead comes to rest against yours, you have to close your eyes against a sharp stinging that has nothing to do with the chlorinated water.

She's gone when you open them again. You expected as much, of course, but it manages to leave you feeling extremely disappointed all the same.

"Well, you certainly seem fit for fight," is the coach's first words when your head breaks the surface. "Took your time coming up, but with all the squealing going on up here, I can't say I blame you." Her lips part in a half-grin. "Judges might actually award points for good sense if you did that in competition."

You find a smirk somewhere to respond with, and settle your arms on the edge of the pool. The dive didn't take a lot out of you, but those few seconds in the water...

"Half-laps for you for the rest of the day, Kuga," she tells you, and bends down to pat you on the shoulder. "You seem to be fine, but it won't hurt to take it easy this once – just to make sure."

"Eeehh?!"

"Kuga-kaichou is hurt?!"

"Matani-sensei, what happened?!"

If nothing else, you consider as you rest your forehead against your folded arms and close your eyes at the sudden flood of questions, at least you got the woman's name now.

"You lot get back to your own practices," Coach Matani orders. "If Kuga-san wants to tell you, she can do so on her own – I don't want to hear a single word of any pestering going on, alright?"

A low chorus of half-hearted agreements and curious whispers follow you as you push away from the wall and make your way to a free lane in the lower end. Your head is still spinning as you begin your assigned half-laps, and you pay no mind to the occasional girl either joining in for her own laps, or leaving the low end entirely in favor of the diving boards positioned further away. Your movements get smoother and faster the less you concentrate on them, and so you stop focusing on them entirely – not even noticing how your body changes styles at even intervals, how it tucks and turns with pin-point precision at the end of each lap, or how your breathing is slow, steady and even in spite of the energy you expend as you propel yourself through the water.

You've settled on a different mantra now, though this is repeating in your head with a great deal more force.

_I have got to get my ass back home_.


	7. Chapter 7

For disclaimers (sort of), please see chapter one.

**Author's notes:**  
Another calm chapter this time. But things _are_ slowly starting to turn more... serious.

Also, a small plea – if any of you are confused about one or more things at any point, please do share by way of comment, PM, carrier-pigeon, etc. I've been lost in this story for ages, so to me, all the answers are so friggin' obvious that I may just entirely forget to _incorporate_ them otherwise. So, help? I may not answer any questions outright, but I can at least make a note that the answer is something I need to include in a future chapter.

Enjoy!

**Distortion**  
Chapter 7

* * *

It isn't so much the similarities that get on your nerves, you decide idly as you roll your shoulders and continue your little walk while tugging the warm coat tighter around you to ward off the cold, evening air. No, the similarities between this world and your own – the way in which the people you do recognize mostly look the same and how this campus is apparently a carbon copy of your own – actually make this whole mess a little easier to deal with. It's almost enough for you to forget; at least for a few seconds at a time.

What really manages to chafe at you like a small cut that just never heals, are the tiny and yet numerous irregularities. Your position, your grades, your responsibility and a myriad of other little irritants that grab on and gnaw at you constantly; all serving to repeatedly hammer home that fact that you... Well, that you're _not_.

Home, that is.

In a way, you reflect as you turn an aimless corner, you're oddly relieved that Shizuru doesn't exist here. Because if you're at the point of honest-to-God hallucinating like you did earlier after as little as three days, then what the hell would you do if she _was_ here, and yet didn't know you? Didn't have a reason to care?

Should that be the case, you sincerely doubt that you would be able to ignore it and focus on finding your way back to where you belong; at least your responsibilities leave your mind once they're actually over and done with. Shizuru, however, is stuck in your head like she's never been before, which is saying something in and of itself given what happened during the Carnival back in your own world. That fact is only confirmed when you realize that during your musings, your feet have taken you into the director's garden entirely of their own volition – even though that's actually a rather substantial detour when going from the indoor pools to the residence of the woman in question.

It doesn't take long before you've found your way along the winding pathways to the tall, slender gazebo, and while you do trail your hand over the cool surface as you pass it, you're drawn irresistibly to a spot not twenty feet away.

There's no explosion of flowers here, of course. No blanket of green leaves and soft, pink petals that wave gently in a warm breeze under a blue, summer sky. It's winter, the sky is overcast and the soil is exposed and barren; the flowers long since wilted and their seeds waiting beneath the protective covering to rise and bloom anew once spring arrives.

There's nothing to look at. Yet you stop... and you look.

_You shouldn't do that_.

That voice again, and while your shoulders tense painfully, you don't move. Were you to turn, you would either see nothing, or you would see _her_; only for her to disappear again. You can't decide which would be worse, and so you compromise by not looking at all.

_Beautiful flowers are meant to be loved..._

"Stop it," you hiss softly, through the words come out sounding more pleading than angry as you rub your temples and close your eyes tightly.

… _don't you agree?_

"Stop!" you reiterate, this time a little louder.

_Natsuki, I'm always thinking of you._

Merciless, you decide, and you can feel your heart racing in your chest as you continue down the path at a brisk walk without daring to look.

_Natsuki..._ The voice fades as you move further away, but you still have to force your breath not to hitch and your eyes not to tear.

_Natsuki... _It's nothing more than a whisper of the wind against your face when you finally can't take it anymore and start running._ I love you._

xXxXx

What, you finally wonder several minutes later - once your heart has stopped pounding in your ears and and your breathing calmed down from a pace that wasn't entirely due to your frantic escape – is causing this? Why are you suddenly seeing her face – hearing her voice like this? Much as it would be nice to think that she's somehow able to reach you from one universe to the next, that can't be it, because then shouldn't you be able to do the same thing?

Is it because you miss her? Granted, you've been missing her the whole time – far more than even you thought you would – but this _is_ the longest you can ever remember going without some sort of contact with her. So maybe that's why?

No matter what the cause, you honestly hope you don't have to deal with it that often, you decide as you climb the steps to the front door of the director's mansion. Every time it has happened so far, it's done horrible things to your body and your mind all at once. It's hurting you in ways that you can't even put into words, and at the same time, it's frightening you as well because you don't know how to make it _not_ happen.

A thought strikes you and gives you pause; your hand raised and frozen in mid-air on its way to knock on the door. Is this... is this maybe somewhat similar to how Shizuru feels around you? Not because you're not there, but because you _are_; because she loves you, and yet makes herself hide it in fear of scaring you away? Hurting and frightened, much like you are now, if not entirely for the same reasons?

Maybe, you consider, and turn your gaze inwards as you remember several instances from the past month – times when she obviously stopped herself from touching you in ways that you'd always pinned down to the peculiarities of your friendship with her. Stopped, and smoothly resumed whatever the two of you were doing without a single crack in the mask that she wears so expertly – even around you, now. Even though she must have been hurting at a level you're only starting to barely understand. And yet she's never backed away – never distanced herself.

Never left.

Nearby, a throat is cleared softly, and it startles you so badly that your interrupted motion instantly changes from knocking on a door to defending against an enemy; your fist and arm turning and cocking in the blink of an eye before sweeping out at a dangerous speed. Your hand, however, is caught, and your movement stopped so abruptly that you'd think you'd been trying to punch a mountain. It's followed by that glow again, although on her, you don't spot even a fraction of that disgusting, rotten color.

"Natsuki-san." This world's Himeno Fumi smiles warmly at you in spite of the fact that you could've just bashed her face in. "You rarely show up unannounced – is something the matter?"

Fumi is older here, you realize. Her face has several, subtle lines of the variety that comes along with life as it lengthens, and although her hairstyle is the same, the soft pink color of it is also sprinkled with the faintest dusting of white. She looks, you decide, as if she's somewhere in her late thirties or early forties, but aside from that, she's exactly as you remember her – kind blue eyes, a friendly, open smile and gentle, caring words. All of which belie a sophisticated mind and a work ethic you've yet to see matched anywhere.

And, you muse as you eye the hand she's caught firmly in her own, a grip that could probably grind a rock into dust.

Ow.

You open your mouth to say something – ideally planning on starting out with an apology – but pause again when you realize that Fumi is studying you curiously. There's the faintest of furrows between her brows as her eyes burn into yours with surprising intensity, and she keeps your gazes locked for several heartbeats, during which your face grows steadily more heated and your thoughts steadily more confused.

Then she blinks, and that penetrating look disappears entirely when she releases your hand and steps back; gesturing toward the open front door. "Won't you come in, Kuga-san?"

The change in her mode of address for you doesn't escape you, though it doesn't exactly surprise you, either. For one, the Fumi you know has always been aware of a lot more than her friendly, easy-going nature would make anyone suspect. For another, this version has known your counterpart for well over a decade by now, and though you've never seen evidence of a particularly close ward/guardian relationship, it's hardly astounding that she can tell the difference.

Good, you decide after a few long moments of mental review. Granted, you didn't come here with the intention of revealing who you really are – all you were hoping for was the chance to maybe wheedle some information out of her that might have proven useful. However, if she's figured out on her own that something weird is going on, that means that you're free to be honest and talk freely. Ask freely.

So you enter with a nod.

"It _is_ Kuga-san, isn't it?" Fumi asks with remarkable calm as she shuts the door behind the two of you.

"Yes." You briefly wonder what the social protocol is for making an unexpected visit to the alternate-universe version of your recent-headmistress-slash-fellow-HiME, who is apparently your counterpart's long-time-headmistress-slash-legal-guardian. Eventually, you settle on simply bowing politely. "Sorry to come by unannounced, Himeno-san."

"Ah. Well..." Fumi smiles brightly, through her eyes hold a twinkle of amusement when she regards you. "In one meaning of that phrase you presumably didn't have much of a choice, and as for the other, at least you're acting like she would."

Well, _that_ is just absolutely flippin' dandy. Another comedian.

"I was hoping that the things I did recognize meant that much," Fumi continues blithely; preceding you down the hall and gesturing for you to follow, which you do. "Don't misunderstand, Kuga-san – the similarities _are_ numerous, but something in your eyes tells me that life has been kinder to you than it has to the version of you that's under my care."

_Kinder?!_ You goggle at the back of her head; halfway to vehemently objecting to that description until you realize that she's absolutely spot-on in a lot of ways. It's true that your counterpart never had to deal with her mother trying to sell her, with living the life that comes with a constant quest for vengeance, or with fighting to the death all to appease some half-baked prophecy. On the other hand, in spite of those blessings, she's far more emotionally closed off than you because she never had the one thing that truly kept you from turning your back on the world: someone to find and save her early enough to keep her from doing just that.

Even with everything that's happened to you, your outlook on life is generally a positive one now. You have no idea exactly how to put a price on something like that, but you _do_ know that you wouldn't switch places with your counterpart for anything in either world, for all that she's apparently had it easier.

"Do sit down, Kuga-san," the director offers as she guides you into what looks like a small study – complete with a workspace set between two large, now heavily-curtained windows, three recliners in front of a fire that's already going, and rows of stuffed bookcases lining the walls.

You do, and manage to feel only somewhat awkward when you immediately stand back up to remove your heavy jacket, which is then slung haphazardly over the back of your chair. Fumi is thankfully far too polite to comment, and instead merely gives you another smile as you re-take your seat; settled comfortably in her own chair on the other side of the low, circular table.

"So," she speaks up when you've stopped shifting around and managed to get at least somewhat comfortable yourself. "How may I be of assistance?"

Ten thousand different answers to _that_ inquiry, and instead of listing them all, you decide to respond with another question. "What do you know about the Carnival?"

The director's head tilts faintly, and she settles her elbow on the chair's armrest; leaning her chin on a loosely curled fist as she studies you. Apparently that wasn't the answer she was expecting.

"I take it that you know something about it?" she eventually retorts, and keeps nicely with the theme you set.

"I lived through it," you reply shortly, and fold your arms loosely across your chest. "Can't get much more educated than that."

"I suppose not," Fumi agrees softly. "You won?"

"No." You shake your head, and feel the corner of your mouth twitch in wry amusement at the confusion now evident. "We all did. I was one of the ones who died, but we were brought back along with our most important ones. We defeated him in the end."

"I suppose," the director comments after a long moment of contemplative silence, "that this may end up becoming a very long talk." Pause. "Long, but hopefully educational for both of us, because if I'm understanding you correctly and the Obsidian Lord is permanently destroyed where you come from, I would honestly love to know more about how that was accomplished."

_Quid pro quo_, your mind whispers – an expression you've heard Shizuru use – and you only barely restrain yourself from shaking your head in an effort to dislodge it; instead limiting your response to a quirked eyebrow.

"Then I think I'll prepare some sort of repast for us to enjoy in the meantime," Fumi comments as she rises gracefully. "Do you drink tea, Kuga-san?"

Not until very recently. "Sure," you nod. "Green, if you have it."

xXxXx

Several hours later, your throat is raw from all the explaining you've found yourself doing. Even the fact that you're now on your fifth consecutive cup of tea doesn't seem to be helping all that much, but it's hardy surprising, given how much - or rather how little – time you usually spend talking. At least you spend a lot more time thinking, so it would take significantly more than this to give you a headache.

So far, you've been the one to monopolize the conversation in a way; Fumi has a _lot_ of questions about the Carnival as it happened back home, and is genuinely curious in regards to the HiME in general. In the spirit of the whole 'tit for tat' thing, you've been explaining it all to the best of your ability, which is very well indeed, given that you were probably the one at least somewhat in the know for the longest.

The director hasn't been stingy with information of her own in return, either. For instance, you've learned so far that you _were_ born in the same year as your counterpart, who missed a year of school thanks to the accident just like you did, but was able to make up for lost time and catch back up before entering high school. She had no cause to focus on revenge, and so used all that time on her studies instead. A habit that's apparently still with her, since Fumi's also informed you that she's essentially being courted by several universities from all over Japan.

You've also learned a few key things about the Carnival as it happens here. Right now, Fumi informed you earlier, this world is about at the halfway-point of the 300-year cycle – something that explains both the position that the hands on the library floor were set to, as well as the physical appearance of the Childs in the In-Between. Fumi herself is very well-versed on at least the theory of the subject, owing to the fact that the academy itself was built over Fuuka no Miya by her family shortly after the last Carnival (and for that very reason), and that the position of Director has consistently been held by her relatives in that time.

"I wouldn't presume to say if the rules connecting a Child to its master are different in the world you know, Kuga-san," she's saying right now. "Albeit from what you've told me, that does seem to be the case." Fumi sets down her cup and folds her hands in her lap. "Here, however, the same twelve Childs apparently reincarnate, and they connect to a HiME chiefly via their Elements; though there's an emotional link as well. All HiME – when the Carnival nears in their lifetime – will be guided onto a path that gives them experience in fighting practically from the moment they can walk. Gennai will choose whomever is the most familiar with the kunai or similar weapons_,_ while Miroku will link his loyalties to the HiME who has the most talent with a sword of any kind."

"And Duran?" you ask.

"Projectile weapons," she replies. "I take it he was yours?"

"Mm."

"Then I can tell you that he _wouldn't_ choose you - or your alternate, rather - here," the director tells you, and an apologetic expression forms on her face when she presumably notices how this upsets you even if you'd been expecting to hear it. "I'm sorry, Kuga-san, but she mastered the martial art of _s__ōjutsu_ years ago."

"... _s__ōjutsu_?" you ask, because it's not a word that means anything to you.

"Performed with the yari," Fumi explains, and you feel yourself nodding not only because of what you saw in the In-Between, but also because of how Nao revealed that your counterpart trains with it regularly. "Were the Carnival to happen in her lifetime, she would probably be chosen by Kiyohime, whose preference lies with polearms."

"She would," you confirm absentmindedly – only remembering all too well how comfortable she seemed with the cobra. How she was able to apparently understand it, while you could only understand the wolf.

As for the emotional connection that the director mentioned, well, what does she have in common with Shizuru? You ponder that, and fiddle idly with the cup in your hands all the while. Aside from the fact that they've both either taken or been given the responsibility of _seito kaichou_, they're both very poised individuals – both apparently entirely to good at projecting one thing while feeling something else entirely. At wearing masks.

Hiding.

"You sound remarkably certain for someone who's never met her," Fumi remarks, and effectively draws you from your thoughts.

"I met her," you inform her bluntly, and watch the blue eyes widen just a fraction. "Apparently the Childs brought me here to fix... something." You sigh, and rub at your forehead. "I'm not sure exactly how, but they pulled me to this world, and her to their own. She's there now, and when I... visited..." For lack of a better word. "... earlier, I met her."

"You visited _Asgard_?" The director sounds flabbergasted to say the least, and you're not above feeling just a little amused at the whole thing. Even if it is a morbid kind of amusement. "How?"

"I don't know," you admit thoughtfully. "I started hearing things in my dreams." And while awake as of today, but you're not about to bring that up. "Turned out it was the Childs trying to reach me somehow. They asked me to come find them, and when I entered the circle of pillars... well." You shrug. "There I was."

"In Asgard."

Apparently Fumi is still having a bit of time wrapping her head around that fact.

"They seem to call it the In-Between more often," you supply against the edge of the cup, even as her words bring to mind something else. "Why Asgard? Why Norse mythology?" Those parallels were never drawn where you come from, but here it seems to be par for the course – even Duran called it that, and if you're correctly identifying that hiss that also took over your own voice, so did Kiyohime.

"I don't think anyone knows for sure." The director takes a sip from her own cup, and apparently centers her thoughts as she does. "At least not anyone currently living or available for questioning. The best we have is a half-formulated theory from long ago, based on some far older writings that have apparently been lost to time. Someone once claimed to have found a short text written by a HiME, who in turn speculated that the Norse gods had a hand in the Carnival somehow." Fumi regards you pensively, and curves her lips into a small smile. "Of course, it's equally possible that the idea of a final, major battle, the world ending and then rising from the ashes was just given names from that religion because of the similarity with _Ragnarok_."

Ragnarok isn't something you know much about, but you have heard of it once or twice. Something about it being the end of the world in that belief, wasn't it? "Doesn't every religion have some sort of explanation for that?"

"I believe so." Fumi shrugs. "As I said, it's only a half-formulated theory. No one really knows for certain."

"Mm." You give a small sound of general agreement as you take another drink of tea. Well, at any rate it isn't crucial – just a difference that a little curious, but nothing you can find an absolute answer for. No sense in wasting time on it.

"You said that the Childs brought you here, Kuga-san?"

"That's what they told me," you agree. "I can't really see who else would, so..."

"Hm." Fumi nods and watches the swirling liquid in her cup for a few seconds. "What is it that they want you to repair?"

"Apparently, it's the HiME themselves," you sigh. "Or the passive carriers of the gene here, anyway. You're one, by the way, but you don't seem to need any kind of fixing."

"... Aha?"

You're confusing the hell out of the poor woman, you soon realize, but can't help being a little amused all the same. Still, you explain the theory about how happiness for passive vessels may just tip the balance in favor of the active vessels, when their time comes. You also tell her how you're apparently able to recognize the carriers after your return from the In-Between – in as few words as possible.

"When I'm touching them, they glow."

Thankfully for your aching throat, it doesn't take much longer for your visit to wrap up. Fumi's effectively cemented herself as another ally in helping you find your way home, and while there's not much she can do actively, it certainly can't hurt to have the help of not only the head of the academy, but someone who's probably the only one here who knows more about the HiME and the Carnival than you.

"But please keep your eyes open, Kuga-san," she tells you as she opens the door for you again. "If the Childs can reach you, a certain other someone may be able to, as well."

Those words are stuck in your head as you walk back to your dorm in the darkness. It's not that you don't know who she's referring to – more that you're berating yourself for not thinking of that in the first place. Even Duran warned you, after all, that 'the other side' might interfere if you don't complete your tasks before attempting to return home. And if the Childs have the power to bring you here, then what's to keep someone ultimately more powerful from poking their nose in even now, right in the middle of everything?

You're definitely frowning by the time you're crawling into bed and falling into an exhausted sleep. Hopefully, you decide murkily, the Obsidian Lord will stay away.

xXxXx

_You don't even realize how much power I hold here, do you, little one? You... you are fascinating. You are strong and clever; ruthless and cunning. Far more of a worthy bride than the rest._

_Mayhaps you would like to join me? Mayhaps I shall simply take you._

_Oh, don't be afraid, Natsuki-hime. I can give you everything you ever wanted._

_Even the one you miss so dearly._


End file.
